Meera Sodha's vegan recipe for no-cook chickpea, tomato and cucumber salad

From theguardian.com

A quick, easy, throw-together salad to welcome the start of summer

                 This salad is perfect to eat from a bowl on your lap in the sunshine.                                                                              Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian

When the warm weather arrives, I don’t want to cook, but I do still want to eat something delicious. Hence, what classifies as a good, warm-weather recipe to me is one that uses as little time and heat as possible. Happily, it’s as if nature agrees, because fresh produce is at its most abundant right now. In today’s dish, I’ve used some of the season’s most refreshing ingredients – tomatoes, cucumbers and mint – alongside chickpeas and one of the most flavourful characters in the store cupboard, rose harissa, for a quick, throw-together salad that’s perfect to eat from a bowl on your lap in the sunshine.

No-cook salad with tomatoes, chickpeas and rose harissa

I prefer to use pre-cooked jarred chickpeas for salads, because they are impossibly creamy, but if you have only tinned and want to get rid of any chalkiness, you could (if you’re willing to use the hob, that is) put the chickpeas and their water (aquafaba) into a saucepan, bring to a boil, simmer for five minutes, then drain to get equally super-soft chickpeas.

Prep 20 minServes 2 as lunch (or 4 as part of a bigger spread)

For the dressing
2½ tbsp rose harissa – I like Belazu’s2½ tbsp olive oil
2½ tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp fine sea salt

For the salad
240g cooked jarred chickpeas (or 1 x 400g tin – see recipe introduction)
½ red onion, peeled and finely sliced
30 baby plum tomatoes (300g), halved
1 cucumber, deseeded and cut into 1cm half-moons (250g net weight)
20 pitted kalamata olives, halved
20g coriander, finely chopped
15g mint leaves (ie from about 8 sprigs), finely chopped
2 pitta breads, to serve

Put all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and stir. Drain the chickpeas, tip into a large bowl, and add the onion, tomatoes, cucumber and olives. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and mix well. Sprinkle over the coriander and mint, and fold through the salad.

Put the pitta bread into the toaster and toast until very crisp and golden. When cool, cut into rough pieces. Tip the salad out on to a serving platter, arrange the pitta around the edge and serve.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/may/30/meera-sodha-vegan-recipe-no-cook-salad-chickpea-tomato-cucumber-salad