Chickpea Salad Niçoise

Food blogger Hannah Sunderani’s new The Two Spoons Cookbook features delicious plant-based updates to classic French recipes. Says Sunderani: “This niçoise is fully loaded with hearty potatoes, seasoned chickpeas, colourful vegetables and crisp lettuce. It is summery, crunchy and full of flavours you would typically find in a salad niçoise from the South of France – one of my favourite places to visit in France. The freshness of this salad takes me back to the morning markets in the Old Town of Nice, where I used to buy the ingredients to prepare this vibrant salad. We loved to pack it in containers and picnic on the stony beach. Enjoy this salad as a delicious and healthy lunch, dinner or side.”

Chickpea Salad Niçoise

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Ingredients

  

Lemon Dijon Dressing

• ⅓ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp finely diced shallots
• 1 clove garlic finely diced
• 1½ tsp agave syrup
• ½ tsp white miso paste
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ tsp dried oregano

Chickpeas

• 400 mL can chickpeas drained and rinsed (see Tip)
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• pinch fine sea salt

Salad

• 200 g green beans trimmed
• 200 g baby potatoes colour of choice, cut into bite-size pieces
• 2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
• 1 cup grape tomatoes halved
• 1 cup thinly sliced English cucumber
• ¼ cup pitted mixed Greek olives
• ½ small red onion thinly sliced
• 2 tsp chopped fresh chives
• ¼ cup drained capers
• pinch fine sea salt
• pinch freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

 

Lemon Dijon Dressing

• In a small bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, shallots, garlic, agave, miso, salt, pepper and oregano. Whisk to combine. Set aside to allow flavours to meld together.

Chickpeas

• In a medium bowl, combine chickpeas, lemon juice, mustard, oregano and salt. Stir to combine. Set aside.

Salad

• Fill a medium bowl with ice water. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. When water is boiling, reduce heat to medium-high, add green beans and cook until beans are vivid green and just tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, scoop out green beans and submerge in ice water. Add potatoes to boiling water and cook until fork-tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain potatoes and rinse under cool running water. Drain green beans. Pat dry green beans and potatoes.
• Spread romaine lettuce on a large serving platter. Evenly arrange green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumber, olives and red onion over romaine. Sprinkle with seasoned chickpeas, chives, capers, salt and pepper. Serve Lemon Dijon Dressing on the side for drizzling. (Alternatively, you can toss all the ingredients together in a large salad bowl with the dressing to taste just before serving.)

Notes

Tip: If you prefer to cook chickpeas from scratch, you will need to soak and cook ½ cup dried chickpeas to get 1½ cups cooked chickpeas (the equivalent of 1 can).

Make ahead: The Lemon Dijon Dressing can be prepared up to 3 days in advance. Store in a jar in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature and shake before using.

Excerpted from The Two Spoons Cookbook by Hannah Sunderani© 2022 Hannah Sunderani. Photography by Hannah Sunderani. Published by Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.