Chickpea green bean salad

This chickpea green bean salad completely transformed my previously poor opinion of bean salads. It’s nothing like the mixed bean salads –  tough kidney beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas, and mushy tinned green beans swimming in oily vinegar – that I always avoided at potlucks and salad bars.

The recipe calls for two separate dressings  – a garlicky one for the chickpeas, and a gingery one for the green beans. If time allows, it’s worth making the chickpea part of the salad a few hours ahead so they can marinate, then doing the green beans when it’s almost time to eat.

While it’s not much extra work to make both dressings, sometimes I just make the green bean dressing, and toss it all together at the same time. Another Madhur Jaffrey recipe from my trusty World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking.

Chickpea and green bean salad
(serves 6)

For the chickpeas:

• 2 tins chickpeas (450g), undrained
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil
• 2 Tb white wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• a pinch of cayenne pepper

For the green beans:

• 400g green beans, cut into 2″ lengths
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil
• 2 Tb lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 2 Tb red onion, finely minced
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

1. Heat the chickpeas in their own liquid and drain.
2. Mix together the remaining chickpea ingredients to make a dressing, and pour over the still-hot chickpeas.
3. Adjust the seasons, cover and leave to marinate. (You can leave the chickpeas for a couple of hours before preparing the green beans.)
4. Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the green beans and cook until just tender, about five minutes. Drain and pat dry.
5. Mix together the remaining green bean ingredients to make a second dressing, and toss with the beans. Leave them to sit for five minutes, then mix the two salads together and serve.

Tags: chickpeas, dairy-free, gluten-free, green beans, Indian food, Madhur Jaffrey, vegan, vegetarian