Fast, Healthy and Vegan. Chickpea, Mango, and Coconut Salad. Recipe
Sometimes you just want something to be easy. Sometimes you just wanna say what the hell, I'll nuke something, or open a can, or whatever. This last week was one of those weeks for me. I'm nearly halfway through my chemo, still firing on all cylinders. In fact on Sunday I did three miles. The problem was Monday. Monday I felt lower than whale shit. The chemo side effects and I tangled for a couple of days, now I'm pretty much back to normal. Pretty much means I didn't want to do a whole lot of cooking. I wanted things that were nourishing and above all EASY! That's where this salad comes in.
If one has the time and the inclination, one can soak ones garbanzos in tepid water for 24 hours, which sounds more suggestive than it is. Then comes the boiling and simmering and voila! Salad ready chickpeas. Or, you can do what I did and open a can of organic chickpeas from Whole Foods and be done with it. If you do that, you can be dining on this salad in like 20 minutes. So here how to do exactly that.
Chickpea, Mango, and Coconut Salad
Here's What You Need:
- 1 16oz can of chickpeas
- 2 tsp coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp urad dal
- 1 dried red chili pepper
- 1 tsp chopped curry leaves
- 2 Tbs grated fresh or dried unsweetened coconut
- 1 serrano chili minced
- 1/2 green mango peeled and cut into slices, plus more for julienning
- 1 handful of grapes
- grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 Tbs chopped cilantro
- 1 pinch of hing (asafoetida)
- 1/4 cup of roast unsalted whole peanuts (optional)
Here's What To Do:
If you're using canned chickpeas, rinse them in cool water, and drain them. You may need to rinse them gently several times.
Heat the coconut oil in a saute pan or kadhai.
When the oil is hot add in the mustard seeds and urad dal.
When they start to sizzle and pop, toss in the dried red chili.and curry leaves.
Stir everything around for a minute or so, then add in your drained chickpeas...
...1/2 tsp of salt, and a pinch of hing.
Saute everything together for about 3 minutes then take the pan off the heat.
Add in the coconut...
...Mango julienne...
Chopped red grapes...
And finally the zest...
...and juice of 1 lemon...
...and finally the peanuts.
Stir everything together well.
Then peel and thinly slice your mango.
Arrange the peeled slices fan like on a plate.
Add the chickpea coconut salad mixture to the top of that.
Sprinkle with a bit of chopped fresh cilantro and serve it up.
It's that simple, that fast, and a perfectly tropical relaxing treat for when life seems to be kicking you ass. Coming up next, more very easy dishes that can be made quickly, without too much muss and fuss. Follow along on Twitter at @kathygori