When I heard about
Hostel Bookers’ contest
for easy budget recipes on Food
Bloggers of Canada, I was intrigued. I’ve stayed at too many hostels to
count throughout various travels, so I have a good idea of the challenges of
trying to find or make food on a budget and with limited resources.
Since chickpeas are
one of my go-to ingredients whenever I need a quick and easy meal, it wasn’t
hard for me to come up with a 5-ingredient, 5-step recipe for the contest. I
remembered an avocado chickpea salad I loved from Naturally
Ella, and decided to combine it with the flavours of one of my favourite
meals, mojito
tilapia bites. The result was a refreshing and flavourful avocado lime
chickpea salad that with the addition of mint, tasted (almost) just like a
mojito! While it may seem out of place in November, sometimes I need a break
from all the heavy winter stews and pastas, and this was just the thing I was
in the mood for!
I ate this salad as a
main course because the chickpeas provided protein and the avocado added some
healthy fats and fiber that filled me up, but it would also be a great side
dish if you’re serving a crowd!
This recipe has less
than 5 ingredients (not counting pantry staples like olive oil, garlic, salt
and pepper), less than 5 steps, takes 5 minutes to prepare, and costs less than
5 dollars. Can’t get much better than that!
Avocado Lime Chickpea Salad
Serves about 2-3 as a
main course, or 4-6 as a side
Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas,
drained and rinsed
1 avocado, diced
1 lime – zest and
juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely
minced
1/4 teaspoon each salt
and pepper
1/4 cup packed finely
chopped mint
Directions:
1. Combine chickpeas
and avocados in a medium bowl.
2. Whisk together the
dressing ingredients: lime zest, lime juice, olive oil, garlic, salt and
pepper.
3. Add the dressing
and the mint to the chickpeas and stir everything together to combine.
I love how simple this is and yet the combination of ingredients tasted so good! It would be nice and refreshing in the summer but I would be happy to eat it all year long :)
ReplyDelete@Genevieve
ReplyDeleteAgreed .. Mojitos themselves I think should be reserved for summer, but I'm happy to eat mojito-flavoured things year round :)
Hey! I made a version of this last night, but I added pineapple, mango, red pepper, jalapeno, cilantro, and tomato, and left out the olive oil.
ReplyDeleteI also left out the mint..
ReplyDelete@sara
ReplyDeleteHey Sara! I think your first comment disappeared but I saw it in my email .. your version sounds delicious! I love chickpea salads - so easy and healthy too!
quick question: how long does it take before the avocado turns brown? I want to make it at night and then have some for lunch the next day...
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteI did the same thing (made it for dinner and had the leftovers for lunch the next day) and the avocado was still fine for me, although the salad didn't taste quite as good as it did the night before. The lime juice should help slow down the browning so just be sure the avocado pieces are evenly coated, and that you immediately store the salad in an air tight container in the fridge and hopefully it works!
thanks for the speedy response! I look forward to trying it!
ReplyDelete-Jane
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteI hope you like it, Jane!
This was absolutely delicious and very filling! One of my friends made it yesterday but substituted the chickpeas for shelled edamame! Wow, the crunch was amazing! This will be one of my favorite new dishes!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Leanne! I love hearing how other people like dishes and I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed it .. I'll have to try the edamame version sometime, it sounds like a great idea!
ReplyDelete