Today was one of those days my body felt like it needed fresh food, and the first thing that popped into my mind was Greek Traditional Salad. Making a Greek salad is not difficult but the vegetables aren’t the most yummy this time of the year to make one and that makes a huge difference. I took inspiration form the idea of making a Greek salad and made something else with Mediterranean flavors - a chickpea salad with various delicious vegetables and fruits like pomegranate. This salad is flavored with balsamico dressing and parsley, and gets more satisfying and protein rich with the chickpeas. I’m seriously not kidding when I tell you - this is one of the best salads I’ve EVER eaten! This will definitely be made again in my kitchen, and I want to teach you how to make one yourselves!

Oh let’s talk about chickpeas.

Chickpeas are absolutely amazing aren’t they? They’re definitely my favorite legume, and I use them so often in my food, like for instance in stews, as the base for dips, for “healthier” and more protein rich baking, as snacks (just roast the chickpeas in the oven and try it out. It’s so good), or in salads like here! Chickpeas is a great vegan protein source, being fiber rich and giving you fullness too. That is the reason why I love adding chickpeas to my salads. This salad that is Mediterranean inspired gets that - fibers, fullness and vegan protein source - from chickpeas too. The chickpeas suits absolutely fantastic in this salad and I love this so much.

Did you know?

Did you know that this salad can be served wither as a side salad to your other food or be eaten as your main as it is or possibly by adding some extra carbs to it? It’s great to use this salad as the base and you can add some extra bulgur, couscous or possibly quinoa to it. I have garnished my salad with some vegan feta cheese to give my salad some extra flavor and healthy fat sources, and it suits amazing.

The pomegranate seeds…

… they are like the “cherry on the cake”, giving this salad that extra fine touch. Since pomegranate is a fruit, very much in season right now too, they have this perfect ripe sweet-sour taste, and crunchy texture, that suits amazing to the other vegetables, the parsley and the balsamico dressing. If you don’t have balsamico vinegar, it’s totally ok, you can use red wine vinegar instead.

THIS RECIPE IS:

• Vegan

• Gluten Free

• One of the best salads I’ve ever eaten

• Protein Rich

• Low(er) Carb

• Can be eaten as a side dish or a main

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 package (200 g) boiled chickpeas

8 small baby cocktail tomatoes

approx 10 cm of cucumber

1/2 green or red bell pepper

1/2 small red onion

3 tbsp pomegranate seeds

3 twigs of fresh parsley

Sea Salt

1/2-1 tbsp olive oil

1-2 tsp balsamico vinegar

Vegan feta cheese

HOW TO MAKE:

• Rinse off the chickpeas in cold water and place in the big(ger) salad bowl you want to use.

• Add tomatoes cut in halves, peeled cucumber cut into smaller pieces, sliced pepper, sliced red onion and pomegranate seeds. Add finely chopped parsley, salt, oil, balsamico vinegar and combine everything together.

• Finish with vegan feta cheese if you want to. Enjoy!