A Cuppa for my thoughts: Powerful chickpeas

Chickpeas makes a good lunch, snack or dinner. It is packed with wholesome goodness and is very versatile. It is that it can be eaten warm or cold and is one of the easiest and mess-free food to pack. It can be left in your kids backpack, or in your car, or your kitchen counter all day until you are hungry enough to eat it.

There are many ways to prepare chickpeas, you can boil it with some salt and eat it, add it into your curry, make pakoras (Indian fritters) out of it, make vegetarian patties and so much more. And if you trying to cut out gluten and rice out of your diet, this could be a good substitute.

We made a warm, savoury and slightly spicy chickpeas salad using ingredients that are available throughout the year. So you can repeat this salad anytime you feel like it. Although it is a warm salad, you could serve it cold the following day. And it only gets better in the fridge as the flavours get a chance to mature.

Ingredients

1 1/2 - 2 cups chickpeas, soaked overnight and boiled next day, till soft or you can opt for canned chickpeas (2 cans)
1 onion chopped
4 garlic cloves chopped
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon whole cumin seed (jeera)
1 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
Some dried chilies or chili flakes
Handful fresh mint
Big bunch fresh parsley leaves
1/2 lemon juice
Oil for frying (1-2 tbs)
Salt to taste

Method

Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add mustard and cumin seeds, and fry till the seeds starts popping. Once they are toasted, you will get a warm toasty fragrance and the cumin will turn slightly darker. Add onion and garlic, stirring frequently until it turns golden. Do not let it scorch or turn brown as this will make your dish taste bitter.

Add drained chickpeas and tomatoes and cook for a minute or two until the chickpeas are well coated with the seasoning and are shiny. Then add, chopped mint, parsley, lemon juice and toss or stir to combine well. Add salt to taste and serve either immediately, later or the next day. It will be good served at any temperature too and make great tiffin food too.