7.17.15 Chickpea Tabbouleh with Carrot Greens
It’s been a week. Overall, a good week; a week packed with fun activities, including a trip to the Twin Cities for some quality time with friends, family, and a Twins game (who totally schooled the Tigers btw). But also, a week filled with overly hot, humid weather, and a bathroom remodel which has rendered our only shower completely unusable. Let’s just say, I’m most definitely looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend ahead with no plans.
And with the weather continuing to look like more high heat and humidity for the foreseeable future, I’m going to be making more things like this chickpea tabbouleh salad. I say making rather than cooking because this is the sort of recipe where no actual heat or cooking is required. Just some chopping and mixing. Perfect for these hot, lazy summer days.
Also, if your herb garden is looking anything like mine these days, you’d probably welcome a recipe that uses 2 ½ cups of fresh herbs (I mean, we can’t let them go to waste here). Fresh parsley and mint are traditional, but my latest CSA box included a bunch of carrots with the most beautiful carrot greens. Obviously, I had to use them for something. After making the majority of them into a refreshing, summery iced herbal tea (as is my traditional use for carrot greens), I decided to try something a little different and use some in lieu of parsley in this most delicious salad. Carrots being in the same family as parsley, the greens’ taste is similar, but just different enough to add an extra dimension of flavor. And subbing the bulgur wheat traditionally used in tabbouleh with chickpeas makes this version especially quick and easy to make. Need I say more?
Chickpea Tabbouleh with Carrot Greens
serves 6
Feel free to use less chickpeas in this recipe if you prefer a higher herb-to-chickpea ratio. As a pregnant lady who is hungry literally all of the time, I’m going for lots of protein here - hence so many of these lovely legumes - but a lighter, more herb-heavy salad would also be quite tasty!
- 1 cup carrot greens, tough stems removed (or sub parsley)
- 1 cup fresh parsley leaves
- ½ cup fresh mint leaves
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 small shallot, roughly chopped
- juice from ½ lemon
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 (15.5 oz) cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup finely chopped tomato
- 1 cup finely chopped persian or english cucumber
- 2 tsp za’atar (optional)
1. Combine the carrot greens, parsley, mint, olive oil, shallot, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper in a food processor and pulse until mixture is finely chopped and well mixed, about 20-30 seconds.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the herb mixture, chickpeas, chopped tomato, chopped cucumber, and za’atar if using. Season to taste with additional salt as needed.
