Garbanzo Bean Salad

Garbanzo beans are my favorite beans.  This was my lunch today but could easily be served as a salad with dinner.  Most of the time I’m the only one eating this and make it so that it will store well in the refrigerator so when I make it at home, I don’t add the tomatoes and cucumbers to the salad, I add them to my plate. 

If I’m making it for a potluck or serving it for guests, I add chopped tomatoes and or chopped cucumber and serve it chilled.  If I’m making it for me to be eaten over the next few days, I add the tomatoes and cucumbers just before I eat the salad. Left in the refrigerator with tomatoes make the tomatoes sort of melt and I don’t like them like that.  And the cucumbers, they get kind of rubbery after a night in the frig. 

What makes the salad when the tomatoes and cucumbers are added is their combination of textures with the spicy sauce.

Garbanzo Bean Salad

Place these ingredients in a bowl and toss ingredients:

2 cups cooked garbanzo beans

1 cup parsley chopped fine

1 cup chopped green onions (1 bunch)

optional:

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1 cup chopped cucumbers

Garlic Tahini Sauce

Place these ingredients in a bowl and mix well:

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp raw tahini

1 tbsp crushed garlic

juice of one lemon (3-4 tbsp juice)

½ tsp lemon zest

¼ tsp finely chopped fresh basil

¼ teaspoon finely chopped fresh oregano

8 – 12 twists of a pepper grinder set on fine

salt to taste

Mix the garlic tahini sauce ingredients until well incorporated and then pour it over the garbanzo beans and stir.

If you are good in the kitchen and can chop quickly, this should only take about 10 minutes to prepare.