This Chickpea Curry Salad is so easy. Anyone with cooked chickpeas on hand can throw it together in minutes—a simple salad that can be packed up nicely for a lovely summer picnic, to complement a barbecue with friends or family, or to take to work for lunch.
When I’m really organized, I enjoy spending a nice afternoon prepping and batch-cooking for my meals ahead of time. Crank up the music and away I go. When it comes to batch-cooking chickpeas, black beans and any other legume of the month that I fancy, I will cook up a large pot, drain, rinse, cool and then freeze them. I divide my batch into 2-cup portions, and then scoop them into glass mason jars. This is usually the amount used in most recipes, which is equivalent to one can of store-bought beans. Add the date and name to the lid and pop them into the freezer. Depending on the recipe that I’m making, all I now need to do is either take them out the night before or when needed if I’m cooking them directly from frozen. I love the money I save from making my legumes from scratch. The process of cooking them yourself might be longer than running out to the grocery store, but most of the time is hands-off. I know it takes planning ahead because you have to soak them—usually overnight for most legumes is fine. Otherwise I plan it around a morning or afternoon that I’m home.
When growing up I really despised eating peas. They were canned, never fresh, overcooked and so mushy—yuck! Being poor and from a very large family, we had to eat whatever was put in front of us, and were not allowed to leave the table without finishing everything off our plate. Our dinner table was actually a large ping pong table. I was always one of the last to leave and remember many nights with my older brothers hitting ping pong balls off my head as a joke. (It wasn’t funny, Larry, Harry and Gerry!) Yes, these are some of my brothers’ real names. Good thing I can laugh now about it :-). In any event, I learned fast to fill my mouth and be excused to use the washroom, where I could spit out those horrid, mushy peas. Once, though, I was caught, so I had to resort to sneaking food to my dog, Robbie, from under the table—which was not an easy task if my parents were close by.
Today, however, I love peas—real peas! Especially the fresh pods that arrive every spring from the local farmers. They are soooo tender and sweet! Who would have thought?! I can even eat them raw straight from the pod. They do, however, lose their sugar content, which is converted into complex carbohydrates soon after being picked. So l really enjoy making this recipe with fresh raw peas straight out of the pod. Look for medium pods, since the larger ones will be older, tougher and not as sweet. When in season, it’s a great idea to buy in bulk and freeze them right away. Otherwise, when out of season, buying frozen peas locally grown is a good alternative.
Curry is an Indian blend of many spices, with one of the main ones being turmeric, which gives it the yellow colour. The active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin. Its many health benefits range from antioxidant protection for our cells to anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties, so I would encourage you to incorporate this healthy spice into your recipes on a regular basis. A word of caution, though, to those on blood thinners since curcumin is also known for it’s blood-thinning properties. Otherwise, for many of us, this is a good preventative measure to reduce the risk of blood clots, if not already taking any prescriptions for it.
Freshly squeezed mango juice pairs very nicely with curry. Start by washing the fruit well under water. Wipe off using a clean, dry cloth. I will cut the mango into three sections, with the husk that holds the seed being the middle one. Then press the end sections, without the pit, into a glass citrus juicer. This usually gives me approximately 2 tablespoons. You can substitute this with guava juice as well. Mango carries so much fragrant, and unique taste that it’s often my go-to juice in Indian and Asian dishes—especially Thai. I also love it in a fresh salsa with grilled chicken or wild salmon, which is a great idea to make from the leftover mango pulp after juicing it by hand. (I guess I still don’t like to waist food. :-))
Mango is another supper food that often ranks high on my grocery list. It has more than 20 vitamins and minerals, with the main stars being vitamins C, A, B-6 and minerals like potassium. Further, mangoes are high in certain bioflavanoids, which, like curcumin, also provide the body with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant protection. Bioflavanoids are broken down into groups, and these groups are subsequently broken down even further. The caratenods are one of the groups of bioflavanoids that beta-carotene and zeaxanthine belong to. Both of these nutrients are key for vision and protect the retina and lens of our eyes from UV light, and against free radical damage that can be caused by the body from stress and some diseases like diabetes, macular degeneration and other common eye ailments .
Well, now that you have the natural nutrition scoop on this dish, go ahead and try it. Use it as a base, or if you are feeling creative, play around with other fresh herbs and spices, like mint, cilantro etc. The world is your oyster!
Enjoy this Chickpea Curry Salad nutritional powerhouse, high in fibre, minerals, vitamins and bioflavanoids—not to mention it being a simply delicious salad!
Chickpea Curry Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups Chickpeas, cooked
- 2 tsp Mild curry Or hotter if you like!
- 2 tbsp Mango juice Freshly squeezed is best
- 1/2 cup Green peas, cooked or raw If previously frozen, thaw if using raw
- 1/2 cup Carrot
- Fresh Basil for garnishing
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix all ingredients together and serve. Enjoy!