Recipe: Curried Chickpea Salad

Curried Chickpea Salad

June 17, 2008 | Tags: Beans - Curried Chickpea Salad - Salad - Side Dish - Vegetable

Carolyn is a big fan of Devon and Blakely, a lunch spot in Washington, DC that serves lots of different soups and salads. One of her favorite side salads is Channa - chickpeas baked with olive oil, curry, cilantro and caramelized onions.

So, me being the good person I am, set out to try and recreate the salad. A quick googling search resulted in a recipe for curried chickpea salad. The salad turned out great, and she said it was pretty close to the Devon and Blakely recipe, but not exactly the same. The quest lives on, but I have found a great recipe in the process!

This recipe calls 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, which is a lot. Seriously. However, it does not end up tasting too spicy. I happened to have whole cloves on hand. That is just because I tried making mulled cider once. Most normal people don’t have this though. Sub in some ground cloves instead, maybe 1/4 teaspoon or so. The cloves really add a lot to the flavor, so don’t forget them.

Curried Chickpea Salad

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, medium sized, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons fresh ginger root, finely chopped
6 whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 (15 ounce) cans garbanzo beans (drained and washed)
1/4 cup water
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, and fry onions until tender.
Stir in garlic, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, salt, cayenne, and turmeric. Cook for 1 minute over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Mix in garbanzo beans and the water. Continue to cook and stir until all ingredients are well blended and heated through.
Remove from heat. Stir in cilantro just before serving, reserving 1 tablespoon for garnish.

Note: The Devon and Blakely salad is served slightly warm, but both salad versions taste great warm or cold.