1cup(180g)cooked chickpeascanned or freshly cooked
1(100g)red onionfinely diced
2(250g)small cucumbersfinely diced
1/2cupparsleyfinely chopped
1/4cupfresh mintchopped
1/4cup(35g)toasted pistachioschopped
1/2cup(100g)crumbled feta cheese
2(60ml)small lemonsjuiced, note 4
2 tbsp(30ml)extra virgin olive oil
2garlic clovesminced
salt and pepperto taste
Instructions
To make the dressing, add lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper to a small bowl. Mix well. Set aside for 5 minutes.
Add quinoa, chickpeas, onion, cucumber, parsley, mint, pistachios and feta to a large bowl. Toss and mix well.
Drizzle the dressing over the salad in the bowl. Mix well until everything is coated evenly with the dressing. Serve immediately.
Notes
Make it vegan - Swap regular feta cheese for vegan feta cheese.
Chickpea Substitution - Try canned black beans or cannellini beans instead of chickpeas. Lentils won't work well because they are tiny and might make your salad mushy and less textural.
Quinoa substitution - Quinoa can be subbed with cooked bulghur or couscous but your salad will no longer be gluten-free.
Nut Substitution - Swap pistachios for almonds or brazil nuts. Make sure you toast the nuts for maximum crunch and flavour.
Storage and Shelf Life - Salad can be prepped ahead by making the dressing, toasting the nuts and chopping the veggies ahead of time. Store them in separate containers until ready to use (maximum 3 days in the fridge). Once mixed together, the salad keeps fresh in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Lemons - Usually, a small to medium juicy lemon yields 30ml lemon juice (15ml for each half). This recipe needs to be lemony and punchy to balance all the flavours. Thereby requiring 2 lemons (or approximately 60ml). You can try adding 45ml lemon juice first and add extra only if you feel you need it.