Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad

Salad can be a meal and if you eat a large portion of it there isn't that guilt there. And this Cilantro lemon salad is a pleaser. It sort of reminds me of Tabuleh but with quinoa. It was so light but there were so many flavors happening. I would perhaps maybe not put as much cilantro or replace it with mint, perhaps take out the cumin and mustard altogether and I forgot the garlic and it was not missing. Plus I used a red onion instead of a sweet one. 

Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad

Adapted from Oh She glows

Yield: 1-2 servings

Ingredients

• One 15-oz can chickpeas (2 cups cooked), drained and rinsed

• 2 cups spinach

• 1/4 cup sweet onion, chopped finely

• Juice from 1.5 lemon

• 3/4 cup fresh Cilantro

• 1/2 tsp sugar (or to taste)

• 2 tsp Dijon mustard

• 1 garlic clove

• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1/2 tsp ground cumin

• 1/2 tsp kosher salt + ground pepper

Directions

1. In a food processor, add the spinach and pulse a few times until chopped very small. Add the processed spinach, drained chickpeas, and chopped onion into a large bowl.

2. In the food processor (no need to rinse the bowl!), add the lime juice, cilantro, mustard, sugar, garlic, cumin, and oil. Process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

3. Pour the dressing on top of the spinach chickpea mixture and stir well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let stand for about 10 minutes to let the flavours develop (optional- I didn’t!). Serve over a bed of grains, like brown rice. Serves 1-2.

Note: The dressing has quite a bite to it, thanks to the lime and oil that I cut down, so please feel free to adjust the dressing to your taste buds preference! You may want more oil, less lime, etc.