Blitzed broccoli and chickpea salad base
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- less than 10 mins
- Serve
- Serves 4–6
This 10-minute salad base is spiced with citrusy sumac and given a nuttiness with golden fried almonds. It keeps really well in the fridge so you can dip into it for lunches, sides and meals-to-go all week.
For this recipe you will need a food processor.
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp flaked almonds
- 2 tbsp sumac
- 1 red onion, cut into 8 wedges
- 1 large head broccoli or 2 small (about 450g/5oz), stalks trimmed and roughly peeled to remove the tough outer skin
- 1 x 600g jar chickpeas, drained
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Add the olive oil and almonds to a small saucepan and place over a medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the almonds turn golden (about 3–4 minutes). Stir in the sumac then remove from the heat and set aside to infuse.
Tip the red onion into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 3–4 times. Roughly chop the broccoli then add to the processor and pulse another 15–18 times, until it's in small chunks (similar in size to the chickpeas).
Combine the almond and sumac oil, broccoli mixture and chickpeas in a large mixing bowl and toss well to combine. Season, then transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for 3–5 days.
Recipe tips
If you can't get hold of jarred chickpeas, use 1½ tins of chickpeas, but buy the best quality you can afford so you get plump, soft chickpeas (the cheapest chickpeas can be small and quite hard).
For a filling lunch or light dinner, top this salad base with your choice of protein. Tofu, chicken and tuna all work well.
