main dishes / recipes / salads / glutenfree / vegan / vegano

I like to observe the influence of the same gastronomic culture in different countries. How starting from the same seasonal ingredients, every country or every region creates its own version or dish. When I moved to Mallorca a couple of years ago, I discovered the “trampó”, a typical salad with Majorcan green pepper (a long variety with a pale green), red pepper, tomato and onion and with a type of paprika made here in the island. So easy and sooo delicious. But later on I discovered that it is just the basis for many different and tasty dishes, like the famous “coca de trampó”, that is usually made with kilograms of pepper! And of course, every home makes it in its own way, like the “gazpacho” or the tomato sauce. And every time I ate that “trampó” reminded me of an un-crunched “gazpacho”.

I had a similar feeling the other day when I went to eat to a Lebanese restaurant and they used the same ingredients, with the only difference that they added some cucumber and used a lot of mint and parsley. Every dish is based on the same ingredients but somehow maintains its own personality. And here it is where the spices, the herbs and the sourness play an important part, they are just the transforming sparkle you were waiting for.

And so, taking advantage of the season and remembering a recipe by the great Ottolenghi, a master chef of the Mediterranean cuisine (I advise you to read his book “The vegetarian gourmet”, terrible title for a book or “Plenty” in the English version), I thought of making the salad with some lemon zest and lemon juice instead of vinegar. You already know that I am in love with the sour and the crunchy, so these chickpeas were the perfect side dish to get a more complete dish. You are going to fall in love with this way of making the chickpeas! They are super easy and give any dish a funny touch. I use to make them in winter in exactly the same way but adding some fresh ginger and turmeric, ayyyyy I love them!

Just remember to buy dry chickpeas! It is so easy to soak them and cook them that it is not worth to spend more money buying pots. For example, what I do for this recipe is the following, I cook 500 grams of dry chickpeas (although normally I cook 1 kilogram to have enough stock to keep in the freezer). I soak them for 24 hours changing the water at least one time (you can use it to water your plants!) and cook them with kombu seaweed. I get about 1200 grams once they are cooked. Then I use a part for today´s recipe and with one part of the rest I make hummus with the broth, lemon, tahini and cumin, and to end, I keep what is left (about 400 grams) in a glass jar and put it in the freezer. I call this optimizing the time in the kitchen! From one single thing you get many, the spend less time in the kitchen and feel a lot more productive!

Now you only have to enjoy this recipe, and as always remember that it is just a sort of a guide! You can use avocado, olives or mint for the salad and for the chickpeas you could use other spices, for example, rosemary, oregano or thyme. It is up to your imagination!