Chickpea Salad with Tamarind sauce and homemade crisps

Today was my turn! Yayy! The first salad recipe on this blog. I wanted to have my American friends get a taste of Indian flavors. I made a simple chickpea salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, mint and cilantro leaves paired with Tamarind sauce and homemade crisps.

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Ingredients:

For Salad: (Serves 6)

Chickpeas - 3 cups

Cucumber - 1 big

tomatoes - 2

onion - 1 medium size onion

mint leaves - handful

cilantro - handful

  

For Tamarind Sauce: (Serves 6)

Fresh Tamarind/ Tamarind paste - 1 cup

Water - 1 cup

Cumin seeds powder - 1 tsp

Jaggery - 1 tbsp

Red Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

For the Homemade Crisps:

Maida/ All purpose flour - 1 cup

Ajwain/ Carom seeds - 1 1/2 tsp

Ghee/ clarified butter - 1 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Water - for kneading

Oil - for deep frying

Method:

For Salad:

Soak the chickpeas overnight and pressure cook the next day. You can leave them just boiled or saute them in a pan with chaat masala/ red chilly powder. Chop all the mentioned ingredients.

For Tamarind Sauce:

Add all the ingredients in a sauce pan and cook over flame till done. 

For the Homemade Crisps:

Add flour, ghee, ajwain and salt in a mixing bowl. Mix well, then add water little by little and mak a stiff dough. Cover and keep aside for 30 minutes. Knead again to form a smooth dough. 

Roll using chapathi roller to a thin sheet. Then cut small circles using a lid cover. Then prick holes with fork to avoid puffing up while frying.

Heat required oil and then add in batches of 5-6 and deep fry until light golden on both sides. Drain in a tissue , cool down and then store in airtight container.

Assembly:

In a Mason Jar, place the chicpeas in the bottom. Top it with the chopped veggies. Serve the Tamarind sauce in a container and the homemade crips in a small bag. When its time to eat : mix in the sauce, crush the crisps and add to the salad. Miix well and enjoy!

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