Summer is such a great time for lightly roasted bean salads that are fulfilling without being too heavy; curried cauliflower and chickpea salad is one such salad.
Hot weather can be a challenge when it comes to cooking; the house gets hot from the oven, eating a big meal makes you feel tired and heavy… It’s a fairly common refrain I hear as a chef. Most people, when the temperature goes up just want a crisp, cool refreshing salad. But there needs to be some substance to that salad; long-burning proteins and some solid vegetable matter will carry you longer than just leafy greens.
One of the most versatile and light proteins I’ve come to love over the last while is the humble chickpea. There isn’t much it can’t do; I won’t go down the rabbit hole of uses it serves, we don’t have that kind of time.
If you’re like me and many other people, the pandemic has you out of work and as such, your grocery budget is rather tight. Meat can eat up lots of space on the monthly food bill, but things like beans and lentils keep longer and do the same job of nourishing a body as meat without running your wallet dry. As a side note: ever try making hummus or falafels out of meat? Neither have I, but it sounds rather off-putting…..
So, as there are many different ways to prepare chickpeas, the cauliflower can claim the same. Roasted cauliflower and chickpeas are great seasoned in many different ways, but I’m on a bit of a curry kick these days, so this was how I chose to fire this one off.
What goes well as a dressing for a curried cauliflower and chickpea salad? Why, a cool yogurt dressing, of course. Mint and cucumber would be great to blend into the dressing, but I didn’t have any on hand, so I winged it and the end result is….. yeah.
Curried Cauliflower & Chickpea Salad
Equipment
- Baking sheet, mixing bowl, oven
Ingredients
Chop chop chop
- 1 head cauliflower cut into bite sized florettes
- 1/2 onion diced
- 1 stick celery diced
- 1 19oz tin chickpeas drained
Seasoning
- 1 Tbsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp coriander ground
- 1/2 tsp cardamom ground
Yogurt dressing
- 2 cups yogurt plain Balkan or Greek style
- 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
- 2 Tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp dill
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp cumin ground
- 1/4 tsp cloves ground
- TT salt & pepper
Instructions
Getting it rolling……
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Into a suitable-sized bowl, dice the celery and onion. Cut the cauliflower (stems included) into bite-sized pieces and mix with the drained chickpeas and olive oil.
- Add the seasonings and mix thouroughly.
- Lay it all out on a parchment-lined sheetpan and bake for 20 minutes.
While it's baking….
- In a medium sized bowl, mix the yogurt, cilantro, lime juice, dill, cayenne, cumin and cloves until fully blended. Put aside.
Bringing it all together….
- Once the Cauliflower and chickpeas come out of the oven, let stand for about 10 minutes to allow it to cool a bit before layering it onto your favorite salad blend with the yogurt as a side to be mixed in at your discretion.Enjoy!
It looks delicious I loved it Thanks for sharing
You’re most welcome! Stay tuned for more.