The rustic style warm chickpea salad is what I seem to like more the smooth hummus. Not that I have anything against the regular hummus with tahini or sriracha, it feels so much nicer to feel the chickpeas as you consume it. Balila is a salad style dish that you want to put out, along with some other mezze items, like Baba ganoush or Tsaziki and spend your time enjoying it.
This weekend
So it was a cricket test series weekend, hubby with a tortured shoulder and pretty much feeling miserable needed some pep up. Knowing fully well that he tends to eat more when he is injured we needed to let him feel full too before he grabbed all the junk. This chickpea salad really knows how to work this out…
Since I did capture a photo opportunity as soon as I made it (sans the roasted pine nuts which I forgot) this is what we have for the share on this week’s #181 Foodie Monday Blog hop by Sujata. The Levantine cuisine is showcasing some unique ones from the regions of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordon Cyprus predominantly. So here I present the simple yet flavourful Lebanese style Hummus Balila.
The crunch of the pine nuts and semi -smashed chickpea makes it a lovely scoopable salad one with some pita or Turkish bread. A couple of things you need to get the best Balila..dont burn that garlic and use a good quality olive oil. You can serve this beautiful one as a snack with some well needed Apricot Nectar ( Qamar al deen- Click here for the recipe)
Having said that, it is a simple straightforward recipe so don’t miss it.
I would serve that as a main course with some yummy vegetarian kebabs and Mujaddara (lentil rice).
But if you still like hummus, you probably should try this one- Sriracha double bean hummus
Don’t miss to Pin this to your board or save it in your yum box. See you soon
Hummus Balila
Rustic style chickpea salad
Ingredients
Main ingredient
- 1 cup chickpea cooked or canned
flavorants
- 4-5 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 3-5 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 large lemon juiced
- 1 tsp parsley flat leaf, chopped.
toppings
- 2 tsp pine kernels roasted
Instructions
- Mince the garlic, squeeze the lemon, clean and chop the parsley and set all the ingredients ready.
- In a pan add the olive oil( yes you need it all0 and gently warm it.
- Add the cumin and minced garlic and let it sizzle up
- Drain the chickpeas reserving 3-4 tbsp of the cooking liquid.
- Add the chickpeas to the pan and mix gently with the garlic and cumin.
- With the back of the ladle gently squish some of the chickpeas so they become a bit mushy. Dont make it all mushy.
- Add a bit of the cooking liquid if too thick.
- Remove from heat, add the lemon juice and flat leaf parsley and mix well.
- Roast the pine nuts in a pan gently till aromatic
- Top the chickpeas with the pinenuts to serve
- Serve with pita slices or any scoopable chip.
Nutrition
Calories: 201kcalCarbohydrates: 13gProtein: 4gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 10gSodium: 178mgPotassium: 66mgFiber: 3gSugar: 0.4g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Oh, yum! This salad looks so good! I want to grab some straight off the screen. 🙂
This flavourful salad looks so tempting. Fantastic share Seema.
My family loves chickpeas in any form, be it curry , dip , chat or salad. Your salad with olive oil, lemon juice, parsley and garlic sounds simple yet flavorful Seema ! Lovely share !
The recipe sounds so easy and simple , but I am sure it must be full of flavours with garlic and parsley. Will love to try next time whenever I have boiled chickpeas in hand.
Chickpea salad sounds healthy and delicious. Chickpea cumin garlic definitely makes it flavourful and lip-smacking. Superb share.
Excellent to scoop the pita bread with. I loved the addition of roasted pine nuts in the recipe, Seema.
I love the salad or more to the point hubby will love it. All his favourites garlic, oil and chana!!! I am eyeing the Morrocan pot behind. Looks so beautiful me drooling over it. I mean the pot 😀
At least once a month I treat myself to a relaxed dinner of homemade pita bread and hummus. This lovely salad will make for a variety, instead of the hummus. I have a small quantity of my hoard of pine nuts left, and will make this for my next ‘treat’. And the recipe for the Apricot nectar – I have to try that soon soon!
thats a lovely salad with Chickpeas.Guess this theme has given us a zillion ways to use chickpeas – one of my fav proteins.. the lemon here is very inviting !
Seema a new recipe for me, it looks so inviting and what I like best that its easy to put it together with minimum ingredients. Mashing the chickpeas definitely would make it scoop able with pita or any Levantine bread.
WOW !! a lovely combo with some pita breads particularly Simple yet much flavorful this is !!!
I love salads. Can have them anytime. This chickpea salad is very inviting. I am liking this name hummus balila:). Well I love everything about this post. Even the crochet:)
This sounds really yumm and delicious … It is a filling and healthy salad…
I am hosting this months MLLA event, I would request you to participate in this event…
https://www.motionsandemotions.com/2019/04/my-legume-love-affair-event.html