I have friends and family members who cringe at the name of salads….but as I always say you may not have had a good salad to make you fall for the salads at the sight of it! I have been eating salads since my teen years and love it to the core! Finding ingredients like olive oil and oregano in the small little town I grew up in was impossible and I remember I used to make my dad drive me to a near by big city to fetch all the fancy ingredients. Growing up, salad in an Indian house-hold would be sliced cucumbers, onions, carrots etc. May be a sprinkle of salt and a wedge of lemon to go along, but nothing of fancy sorts! Though our wide array of all the vegetarian-vegan spreads make up for the lack of creativeness in our salads I must say!
Now, lets take a moment to admire this green goodness of chickpea chopped salad with this equally green but creamy green tahini dressing!
Salads usually have the reputation of not being “filling” enough, but this is one is! Loaded with chickpeas it packs fair amount of protein and bulk. The second ingredient which is optional but recommended is the cooked couscous. Use can sub it for quinoa too and other choice of grains. Then you can add lettuce or your choice of greens along with cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes and avocado. I love adding pomegranate seeds on top to add a burst of sweet-tangy notes as well as add that pop of color to this salad. It is one of my favorite salads and I make it at least once a week and the husband loves it too and I am surprised when he would ask for seconds because he used to be a salad-hater lol.
The dressing for this salad is from my ” goes on everything green tahini sauce “. I tell you, that sauce is so versatile, you can use it as a spread, dip or even as a salad dressing. You just need to thin it out a bit (if needed) with more olive oil or lemon juice. I prefer to add lemon juice since I like mine more on the tangy side. The leftover of this sauce/dressing can be stored in the fridge for up a week. It has tendency to get thick a little due to tahini in it but whenever you want to use, you can just take it out of the fridge and thin it out with oil, warm water or lemon juice (use either and adjust salt and pepper if needed).
Yes, that color is for real, would you just look at that vibrant green!!!
I haven’t added any cheese my version of this salad. Because the thick green tahini dressing already makes this salad creamy enough in my opinion due to the addition of creamy tahini but you could definitely go for some crumbles of feta cheese or a few shavings of parmesan. Add some crunch factor with some croutons or go for healthier option of sprinkling some toasted nuts like pine nuts, slivered almonds etc. The possibilities are endless……
close up!
Here is the recipe card —
- For Dressing
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- 1 bunch cilantro, washed well and roughly chopped ( including stems )
- 2-4 medium spiced green chilies, chopped in half ( I used about 4 long mild chilies, Thai green chilies are more spicier, use 1 or 2, or you can use 1 medium size jalapeño ) - SEE NOTES
- 3 tablespoon lemon juice ( 1 medium sized )
- 3 tablespoon tahini
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- For Salad
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- 1 can chickpeas, rinsed well ( about 1½ cups)
- ½ cup couscous, cooked (OPTIONAL)
- 2 heaping cups lettuce, chopped
- 1½ cup cucumber, diced or cut in half moons
- ¾ cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 avocado, cubed
- ⅓ cup pomegranate seeds
- pink Himalayan salt, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- mint leaves for garnish (OPTIONAL)
- extra add ons - croutons, feta cheese, parmesan shavings, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, slivered almonds etc. (OPTIONAL)
- Cook couscous according to the package instructions. Set aside.
- Prepare all the salad dressing ingredients and put it in a blender and blend it smooth. If necessary add more oil or water in tablespoon increments. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl add lettuce, couscous, chickpeas and mix well. Now add cucumber, cherry tomatoes, avocado and pomegranate seeds. Stir to combine.
- Add the generous helping of dressing and taste test, you might need to add more salt and pepper due to all the veggies we added. Thin it out with more olive oil or lemon juice if needed.
- Transfer it to serving bowls, garnish with croutons/ pine nut/ slivered almonds/ pumpkin seeds (choose one or two out of these) and mint leaves.
- Enjoy!
Lettuce can be skipped or can be replace with your choice of green. I have certainly made it many times without lettuce.
For the dressing - de-seed your peppers if you are unsure about the heat or start by adding half of pepper and blend, taste test and gradually increase.
The dressing can be stored separately in an airtight container up to 5-7 days in the refrigerator.
The un-dressed salad stays fresh for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
You can replace couscous with half cup of quinoa instead.
Looks very delish! Will try tonight!