Rice and Chickpea Tabbouleh
I like to make the quinoa tabbouleh from the Blazing Salads 2 recipe book. Tabbouleh is a Levantine salad made with bulgar wheat, tomatoes, cucumber and onion. I love it. But as I’m gluten intolerant I need some substitute for the bulgar wheat. But I rarely buy quinoa, unless it’s for something specific. Whereas I almost always have rice and chickpeas in the press.
I love the mix of parsley and mint with lemon and extra virgin olive oil. It makes me feel good inside and out. Watermelon has the same effect on me. If you like it too you might like this watermelon salad.
You can use any type of rice for this salad. I’ve made it using white Basmatic rice, brown rice, and the mix of white, red and wild rice you see in the photos. Usually the rule for cooking rice is to use twice the volume of water or stock to the volume of rice. This works very well for most white rice, but I’ve found that brown rice and wild rice mixes need just a little more. Go by the cooking instructions on the packet of rice you’ve chosen. But cook it in vegetable stock with a bruised garlic clove in the pot, rather than just in water. It really adds flavour.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (~200g) rice
- 1 pint (~500ml) stock
- 1 garlic clove, peeled & bruised
- 1 400g tin chickpeas, drained & well rinsed
- 2 large tomatoes, skinned, deseeded & chopped
- ½ large cucumber, deseeded & chopped
- ½ small onion, peeled & diced
- 1 organic unwaxed lemon, zest & juice
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped thinly
- 4 tbsp fresh, chopped thinly
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the rice in the stock with the bruised garlic clove thrown in the pot. While the rice is cooking make the dressing. In a bowl pour in the extra virgin olive oil with the lemon zest and juice with a good pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle in half the chopped parsley and half the chopped the mint. Whisk together till it’s creamily well blended. Taste and see if it needs a little more salt.
- When the rice is cooked, remove from the heat. Fluff up the rice with a fork and pour half the dressing into the cooked rice and mix around well. Let the rice cool completely.
- While the rice is cooling, prepare the vegetables as per the ingredients list above. Combine the chopped tomatoes, cucumber and onion with the rest of the chopped parsley and chopped mint in a bowl. Pour over the rest of the dressing and gently mix around well.
- Drain the tin of chickpeas into a sieve and rinse well. You can easily remove the skin off the chickpeas. Rinsing them well tend to loosen the skins and with just a gentle rub it easily comes off. However, I’m not convinced it affects either the taste or texture that much. It maybe just looks nicer. It’s up to you if it’s worth the (admittedly small) effort.
- Once the rice is cool gently mix the chickpeas into the rice so that they are evenly distributed. Next mix in the bowl of the chopped vegetables, herbs and dressing into rice and chickpeas. Taste and see if it needs a little more salt and pepper.
