(calm music)
- So we are salad people at my house
and one of my favorite salads of all time
is this loaded Mediterranean chickpea salad
and I can't wait for you guys to try it.
What's up, guys, I'm Suzy with TheMediterraneanDish.com.
I'm all about easy wholesome recipes
with big Mediterranean flavors
and today I'm going to show you
my loaded Mediterranean chickpea salad.
I'm jazzing it up for lunch
and I'll show you exactly how I serve it
so stick around to the end of this video.
Let me walk you through the stars of this show here, okay?
So we've got out chickpeas
which are loaded with good for you stuff.
Super good, plant protein, fiber and all that
and then we've got tomatoes
and we've got some English cucumbers.
You can use any cucumber for this
but I like English cucumbers because they are seedless
and they have a very thin skin
so I don't have to worry about peeling.
I have shallots and garlic and lemon
and I have already prepared my eggplant
which is an added bonus for this chickpea salad.
You can use it or lose it but I absolutely love it.
So let me just show you how this whole thing goes down.
I'm in the market for a new knife
because this is super cheap.
I don't know where I bought it from
but if you guys know of a good knife brand,
leave me a comment because I need some new kitchen knife.
All right, so we're gonna start with one lemon.
Here's a tip.
Just put your hand underneath the lemon
and just kinda squeeze
and that way you're catching all the seeds.
My mama taught me that.
Thanks, mom.
I'm using my favorite Greek Early Harvest
extra virgin olive oil.
You can find this right on TheMediterraneanDish.com.
Just hit the Shop tab when you get there.
This is amazing stuff that comes to us straight from Greece.
I'm gonna use a good bit of it like about 1/3 a cup or so.
Good extra virgin olive oil is necessary
for recipes like this, you guys.
It adds a ton of good flavor.
We're gonna do a couple garlic cloves.
Ah, I love doing that.
I love smashing my garlic.
Okay, two garlic cloves minced.
Watch your fingers.
You gotta get right in there like be one with the garlic.
Be one with the garlic, who says that?
Okay.
I think we're at a good point now.
We can slide this garlic right in here.
So lemon juice, olive oil, garlic.
A good pinch of kosher salt.
A good pinch of black pepper.
Wow, I'm really messy today.
Give it a mix.
So let me just kinda dice up some cucumbers.
These guys go in here for now
joining the party of all the chopped yummy stuff
and then we have either shallots will work here
or red onion, doesn't matter.
Shallots are obviously less oniony.
Is there such a thing?
I'm just emotional
'cause I love this chickpea salad so much.
Parsley and dill, you guys.
So about a cup of each.
It might sound like a lot but in Mediterranean cooking,
we actually use herbs pretty much all the time
and not just for garnish.
So these really make the salad so, so beautiful
and so vibrant.
What's the dillio?
Okay, that is not my line so if it sounds cheesy.
And then dill.
I think dill is so underutilized and it's so tasty.
The stems here are very, very fine
so you can actually use them
and they have a lot of flavor.
All right, now that we've got everything nicely chopped up,
grab your big bowl.
Go in with the chickpeas, the star of the show
and then we're gonna do tomatoes,
cucumbers, shallots
and my fresh parsley and dill.
That's all in here.
A little bit of a toss.
We have not yet talked about the star flavor maker
which is za'atar or if you really wanna say it correctly,
it's za'atar which is a wild thyme
and toasted sesame seed mixture and it's amazing
and if you don't have it,
go grab it on TheMediterraneanDish.com.
I am not kidding you, this will transform your cooking.
Za'atar spice blend or it's actually an herb
that's been dried and mixed with the sesame seed
and it makes this chickpea salad that much more delicious.
So we're using about three tablespoons in this entire salad.
We're gonna go in with a couple tablespoons right in here.
Okay and then we'll just give this a quick mix maybe
and then let's go in with our dressing.
We'll give it another whisk.
Wake it up 'cause it kinda fell asleep.
Watch the magic.
I leave just a little bit for my eggplant here
which I'm gonna add a little bit later
and then let's give everything a nice mix.
Make sure all of the chickpeas and the veggies
are coated with our tasty za'atar and our dressing.
All the fresh herbs.
Super lemony, smells so good here, you guys.
So all the dressing flavors are mixing in
with my beautiful salad here,
all the fresh herbs, all the za'atar.
It is flavor party in this chickpea salad.
Let me show you the whole purpose of these eggplants
which if you go to the blog and grab this recipe,
I show you exactly how I fry them.
These are pan fried in extra virgin olive oil.
Super simple and you can also bake them or roast them.
So all of that instruction is available for you
but they're super thin and then actually just pan fried
in some extra virgin olive oil.
So for a quick and easy beautiful lunch
that I do with my girlfriends often,
I just put together a tray with my chickpea salad
and my eggplant and then some pita bread on the side.
So I'm gonna start with some pita right here
just cut up nicely so it's easy for people to handle.
I have my eggplants already available and like I said,
you can do these ahead of time
and they're super, super delicate
so they're gonna tear apart a little bit and that's okay.
I like to go in and add flavor now to my eggplant
so remember that one tablespoon of za'atar that's left.
Just a little bit of a drizzle
from my beautiful lemony dressing
so the eggplant will be super tasty and beautiful
and then I just kinda put the salad right in the middle.
Create this gorgeous kinda constructed look.
This chickpea salad is loaded with everything good.
It tastes delicious.
Super bright, super herby.
Grab the recipe on TheMediterraneanDish.com.
It is amazing and while you're there,
if you're interested in our all natural za'atar
or our extra virgin olive oil straight from Greece,
those are also available on TheMediterraneanDish.com
and hit the Shop tab when you get there.
I will see you later, ciao.