Chickpea, Cucumber and Mint Salad recipe | Cooking with Rania
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Rania Harris is continuing her farmers market series with some fresh produce ingredients! Katie O'Malley is back in the kitchen to help.
Chickpea, Cucumber and Mint Salad
Ingredients
- 1 English cucumber – quartered lengthwise - cut crosswise into ¼-inch pieces
- 2 containers Teeny Tiny "Sprinkles" Tomatoes (I buy them from Trader Joes)*
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 15 ½ ounce can chickpeas – drained – rinsed – drained and patted dry
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ cup Canola oil
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- Zest of one lemon
- Juice of one lemon
- 1 cup roughly chopped mint
- Garnish:
- Thinly sliced Fresno peppers
Directions:
In a colander, toss the cucumber pieces with 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Allow to drain in the sink for 15 minutes - continue with the recipe.
In a medium bowl, toss the chickpeas with the cornstarch, coating them completely. Transfer to a fine mesh sieve and shake to remove the cornstarch. In a 10-inch skillet, over medium heat, add the oil and heat until it begins to shimmer. Add the chickpeas and cook them, shaking the pan occasionally, until they turn golden and crisp. This will take about 5 minutes. Be careful not to overcook them as they tend to burn easily. Add the curry powder and continue to cook until they become fragrant, about 1 minute. Remember to shake the pan gently. Remove the pan from the heat and season with sea salt to taste. Transfer the chickpeas to a paper towel lined plate, to drain.
In a medium bowl, add the drained cucumbers – you may have to blot them gently to remove any excess liquid – they should be fairly void of liquid at this point. Add the lemon juice and zest along with the mint. Add the chickpeas and season to taste with sea salt and pepper. Transfer the salad to a serving bowl and garnish with sliced Fresno peppers.
Serves: 4
Note: Cherry tomatoes are fine cut into halves – I prefer the Sprinkles teeny tiny tomatoes only because I can leave them whole and they actually pop in your mouth when you bite into them and don't add any excess tomato juice to the salad, allowing the chickpeas to remain crispy