Cook's Hideout: Chickpea & Vegetable Salad with Yogurt Tahini Dressing

March 10, 2013

Chickpea & Vegetable Salad with Yogurt Tahini Dressing

Blogging Marathon# 26: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Soups & Salads
Dish: Protein Based - Chickpea Salad
We are onto our 2nd week of marathon for this month. My theme for this week is "Soups & Salads" and to add interest and make the theme a little more challenging, Valli wants us to make soups & salads that use one star ingredient for each dish. Today's dish has a "Chickpeas" as the star protein rich ingredient.
I picked this theme because with my husband travelling on business for the past couple weeks I've been cooking for just myself. Salads fit right in since making a single serving salad is much easier than cooking something. 
This salad is full of fresh crunchy vegetables and fruits and the dressing is yogurt & tahini (ground sesame paste) based. I love adding sweetness to my salads in the form of fresh or dry fruits. Blueberries, sliced strawberries, chopped apples, pears, grapes are great in salads and so are dried cranberries, raisins and other not too sweet dry fruits.
Tahini is one of my favorite ingredients, I love the nuttiness and the creaminess it imparts to any dish. So when I saw this Tahini Buttermilk dressing recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen, I pinned it right away to try it soon. I used nice thick greek yogurt instead of buttermilk since I didn't have buttermilk on hand. I guess the dressing will be tangy with buttermilk, but I liked the creaminess that Greek yogurt gave to the dressing. Dressing also uses some Sumac, a middle eastern version of Indian aamchoor (dry mango powder). I was lucky that one of my dear Turkish friend bought me some Sumac from a turkish grocery.
Ingredients:
For the Salad:
Chickpeas - 1 cup cooked (I used half of a 16oz. can, rinsed and drained)
Cucumber - ¼cup, diced
Red Pepper - ¼cup, diced
Blueberries - ¼cup
Avocado - half of a medium fruit, diced
Mixed greens - 2cups

For the Dressing:
Greek Yogurt - 3tbsp
Extra virgin Olive oil - 2tbsp
Tahini - 2tbsp
Lemon juice - 2tbsp
Red wine vinegar -1tsp
Sumac - 1tsp
Dried Mint - 1tsp
Garlic - 1 clove minced
Salt and Pepper - to taste

Method:
  • Make the Dressing: Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl. Add 1-2tbsp water to get the desired consistency. Recipe makes quite a bit of dressing and it tastes great on falafel or with any middle eastern inspired dishes.
  • Make the Salad: Toss all the ingredients gently and top with the creamy dressing. Enjoy!!
Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up today for BM# 26.
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18 comments:

  1. That looks really appealing and interesting! I have the chickpeas, fresh blueberries and dukes - so will try getting this together -

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  2. Like the dressing very much too :)

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  3. I love your dressing & The salad looks so colorful.

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  4. Looks so pretty Pavani, these types of salads are so healthy and make the cooking so easy on us right..:)

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  5. Very colourful and protein rich salad. Loved the dressing ingredients...

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  6. Love that blueberry touch here,thats a nutritious,catchy and very healthy salad, especially am in love with that dressing.

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  7. Love those fresh blueberries..The salad is just as refreshing!

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  8. Colorful and healthy salad. Love it have a bowl of it

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  9. Love chickpeas salad and adding fresh fruit to it makes it so refreshing :)

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  10. Colorful and inviting one. Good one for single serving.

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  11. I love chickpeas in my salad, for me it gives the much needed filling factor. And yogurt is another thing I love.. so your dressing is a hit with me. Lovely pics. :)

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  12. The dressing will be tried on my next salad and the bowl looks beautiful Pavani.

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  13. The platter looks so colorful and inviting

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  14. Tahini flavor may be make this salad midle East feeling lovely colorful salad.

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  15. the entire bowl of goodness and color rich ingredients... such a delight to the eyes..
    Sowmya
    Ongoing Event - HITS - Diabetic Friendly
    Ongoing Event + Giveaway - Italian Dishes

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  16. Very Colorful Plate pavani, love all those fresh fruits, must be a unique combo fruits with chickpeas!!!!

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