Did you think Caesar Salad was named after Julius Caesar? Well probably not since it actually was made in Tijuana, Mexico, in the 30s.

“Pre-not eating meat”, I used to eat Caesar salad on the restaurants and always ending up thinking “why did I just waste 150 kronor (15 euros) on Romano lettuce and a piece of chicken?”. Yes, you get the drill. There’s a fine line between getting an exquisite and interesting Caesar salad, and one where it just tastes… Romano Salad. Today I’m gonna give you a Caesar salad that Is all of the first mentioned. This is a salad that is interesting and exquisite, but which obviously doesn’t involve chicken nor bacon either. So you all, let me tell you all about my Vegan Caesar salad with Fresh Lemon Dressing and Garlic Marinated Chickpeas! Yum!

So it was actually out of a coincidence I came up with this brilliant idea of “veganizing” a Caesar salad. In general, I like making veg recipes out of “usual-traditional -and-not-veg-recipes”. I have come to a conclusions after many tryouts and different kinds of cooking experiences, that it most often goes very well, making vegan options out of traditional recipes. So it felt more than suiting to try this out today too. We still use the same base ingredients in the dish though; such as Romano Salad, the garlic Caesar Dressing, croutons, “grated cheese”, corn and then the protein source - which today is garlic marinated chickpeas. All of these are vegan and the result turned out fantastic!

Can I make it gluten free?

Yes, you can make this salad gluten free. You simple just need to exclude the croutons, or pick gluten free croutons. If you can’t find gluten free croutons I recommend eating this salad with a piece of optional bread so that you still get the carbohydrates.

THIS RECIPE IS:

• Vegan

• Simple to make

• Could be made gluten free when excluding the croutons

• Only consisting rather simple ingredients

Vegan Caesar salad with Fresh Lemon Dressing and Garlic Marinated Chickpeas

INGREDIENTS:

380 g (230 g dried weight) organic chickpeas

1,5 tbsp olive oil

1 small garlic clove

5 romano salad leaves

3 tbsp corn

Nutritional yeast, can be excluded

Dressing:

2 tbsp vegan mayonnaise

1 tsp olive oil

approx 1 tbsp lemon juice, or after taste

A little bit of salt and black pepper

HOW TO MAKE:

• Rinse off the chickpeas in a strainer in cold water. Place them in a bowl.

• Pour over the olive oil and add the pressed garlic clove, salt and pepper. Combine it all together. Place the chickpea son the side while preparing the rets of the salad.

• Dressing: combine all the ingredients for the dressing throughly in a bowl. Taste and add more lemon juice if wanted.

• Rinse off the Romano leaves. Cut them to smaller pieces (but not small) and place them on a plate. Spread over some corn, the chickpeas, croutons, nutritional yeast, and spread over the dressing or serve it on the side like I have.