Chick Pea Summer Salad with Bulgur Rice with Herbs: Perfect Lunch Combo!

I don't like to have lunch everyday in some fast-food or -quick restaurant where I have to pay a fortune for a salad. Especially salads are the most annoying meals. They usually are boring, no creativity, nothing , not well seasoned and overpriced. The result is quite often disappointment or an over budget meal. 

So I prefer to prepare my lunches at home  and put them in small boxes at least 2 to 3 times a week. In winter, the boxes contains mostly salads prepared with a variety of winter legumes and dried beans or sandwiches. In summertime I like to add a bit more colour to them, use more summer veggies.

I always loved chick peas. They are tasteful, full of proteins, zinc and follic acid and many other things that are good for you. My mother makes this great humus dish that I can't get enough of. (I'll maybe share the recipe with you some other time). For lunch I think they are perfect, they keep you full until dinner and give you energy. Inspired by this salad recipe form Jamie's Dinner I've done a chickpea summer salad which was a delicious and so quick and easy to prepare!

Ingredients

400gr of chick peas ( you can buy them in a can or put them in water the night before and cook them yourself)
2 red peppers, grilled on top of the stove and roughly sliced
3 spring onions, finely sliced
5-6 cherry tomatoes
a handful of fresh mint
1/2 lemon juice
Extra virgin Olive oil
dried red chili
salt and freshly ground black pepper


Mix red peppers, sliced onions and cherry tomatoes in a bowl. Add the lemon juice and olive oil. Meanwhile, heat water in a saucepan, drain the chickpeas and put them in the boiling water just for a few minutes. It's not for cooking them but to heat them slightly so that they will incorporate better with all the juices in the salad. Season to taste with salt, black pepper and dried red chili. Dress with the fresh mint. 


I took some bulgur rice cooked with fresh herbs and olive oil and a few fresh green nectarines with this salad for lunch today and it was great!

You can also add many other fresh herbs to this salad such as basil or parsely.

Bon appetit!

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