Chickpea Salad with Grana Padano

Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, are a staple in my pantry and good for you as they are high in protein, fibre and vitamins. I generally tend to use them mostly for hummus or curries but I wanted to try something else with them.

This is a lovely creamy salad which goes with pretty much everything. In this case we had chicken wings and as its been hot recently I am getting really bored with eating leaf salads (most days). This is a lovely side dish and its filling too.

Ingredients:                 (Serves 4)

1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 small clove garlic, crushed
1 red chilli, seeds removed and thinly sliced
juice of 1 lemon
5-6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 red pepper, roasted (fresh or jar) and chopped
400g tin chickpeas, rinsed
50g Grana Padano cheese, finely grated (or parmesan)
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt & pepper
a little parsley, chopped

Method:

Gently heat the rinsed chickpeas on a low heat, and then put 80% of them into a large bowl. Mash the remaining chickpeas with the back of a fork in the saucepan, and then add to the bowl. This helps makes the dressing creamy.

Then add the onion, garlic, chilli, lemon juice, tomatoes and peppers and mix well. Add the grated cheese and stir gently along with the oil and season to taste. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Delicious!