Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
Today, we are going to make a garbanzo bean salad recipe! In the summer, I love to stay cool with a salad on my porch outside using the best seasonal produce from my garden and the farmers’ markets! But I also wanted to try something a little different! I have had my share of taco salad, Greek salad and kale salad for the week and was looking for something new which was light and hearty!
While picking some green beans out of my garden last week, I was inspired to make a green bean chickpea salad, which turned out to be this Chickpea Niçoise! This salad turned out to be so tasty and beautiful that we took it with us to an outdoor Shakespeare play at the park last week, and it became a hit!
I have been asked what the is the difference between garbanzo beans and chickpeas is, and here is the answer: they are the same thing, but I did not know why they had several different names. From my research, I found out it depends on where you live. Typically, in France or Italy, they refer to them as cece’, and in Spain, they are called garbanzo beans. English-speaking folks tend to call them chickpeas. Call them whichever you like but call them delicious!
Chickpeas are rich in fiber, protein, some healthy plant fat, manganese, folate, copper, and phosphorus. They are also one of the beans that are tolerated a little easier on the low fodmap diet for IBS. I would also suggest using green onions without their white bulbs for people who are intolerant to fructans since onions are a high fodmap food.
Garbanzo Bean Salad Recipe
This salad could be called a chickpea potato salad, a chickpea feta salad, or a chickpea and tomato salad—it has it all!
Niçoise is a French salad named after the city of Nice. Traditionally, it used raw veggies and seafood. Later, cooked potatoes and green beans were added. Julia Child introduced Americans to this delicious salad and now I have made a vegetarian version of it!
Chickpea Nicoise
Instead of the traditional tuna in this French salad, I used chickpeas to increase the fiber and to make it vegetarian! I also used feta and made a lemon tahini salad dressing to give this beloved salad an update and give you a new version to add to an old favorite! A grilled piece of trout, salmon, or tuna would make a nice addition to the top. You can also leave off the feta or purchase a plant-based feta to make it a vegan chickpea recipe
Makes 4 servings
2 cups green beans
2 cups baby potatoes
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 can chickpeas, drained
4-5 cups of lettuce
1/2 cup onions cut into rings
1/3-1/2 cup Kalamata olives
1/3-1/2 cup crumbled feta
Shrub the potatoes and cover them with water. Add a lid and allow them to steam until they are soft enough to pierce with a fork. Drain the potatoes and allow them to cool for about 20 minutes in a colander in the sink.
Stem green beans until slightly crunchy. Drain water and rinse in cold water. Place potatoes on a cutting board. Wash lettuce. Allow it to drain in a colander. Gently tear it and add it to a large bowl. Rinse and drain chickpeas. Add them on top of lettuce.
Cut the onion into rings and chop the tomatoes. Quarter the potatoes when they are cool to the touch. Arrange the potatoes, green beans, tomato, and beans in the desired design on top of the salad.
Make the salad dressing according to the directions below. Just before serving salad, sprinkle with cheese and garnish with black olives. Drizzle with the Lemon Tahini Dressing.
Lemon Tahini Dressing
1/4 cup tahini
1 clove garlic, minced
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon tamari
Juice of a lemon
1/2 cup olive oil
Water added to reach the desired salad dressing consistency
In a cruet, add ingredients except water. Put the lid on and shake well. Sometimes tahini and lemon mixed together makes a very thick paste with the olive oil, usually the olive oil will help, but if you want to thin dressing a little more, use water. It works great to help you get the salad dressing to just the right consistency.
I hope that you enjoy this garbanzo bean salad recipe from my summer kitchen! I leave using my oven for fall, winter, and spring, so things don’t get too warm around here without central air! This chickpea lunch makes a nice cool meal! Thank you for checking out what is happening over at Vine Ripe Nutrition! If you have just found my blog, welcome, and I hope you come back soon. for my friends who have stopped by again, thank you so much for coming back again!
As a registered dietitian nutritionist in Asheville, I love helping others eat healthier and finding delicious foods to enjoy! You can find out more about me here on my bio.
If you want to try another one of my favorite recipes using tomatoes and green beans from the garden, check out my blog post from last year that my mom used to make when I was growing up!
http://www.vineripenutrition.com/when-did-you-start-cooking/
Summertime is when we can eat a variety of foods fresh from the garden!
