Chickpeas Salad

Enjoy this really easy, Mediterranean-style salad. Just toss it all together. It can be served as a main dish or a side. I prefer with garlic bread and piping hot tomato soup....just mind-blowing.

Ingredients:

• Chickpeas, boiled- 1 ½ cup
• Lettuce (any type)- 1 cup
• Tomato, chopped- 1
• Onion, chopped- 1
• Cucumber, chopped- 1
• Olives, sliced- 6
• Coriander leaves or parsley, finely chopped- 2 tbsp

Dressing:

• Extra-virgin olive oil- 2 tbsp
• Lemon juice, freshly squeezed- 1 tbsp 
• Apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar- 2 tbsp
• Garlic cloves, finely crushed- 3
• Cumin powder- 1 tsp
• Chili flakes- 1 tsp or to taste 
• Salt and pepper- to taste

Method:

• Soak chickpeas for minimum 8 hours. Boil with salt.
• In a large bowl, toss together the salad ingredients. 
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. 
• Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss. 
• Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with garlic bread.

Tips:

• You can use tender spinach leaves instead of lettuce.
• You can omit lettuce if not available. 
• You can use canned chickpeas for this recipe. You should drain and rinse chickpeas before using. 
• You can use some chopped colored bell pepper.
• You can use cherry/grape tomatoes, halved instead of regular tomato.
• Just crumble feta cheese on salad, this gives real Mediterranean touch to this recipe.