Smashed Chickpea Salad

Name: Smashed Chickpea Salad
Ingredients: after everything’s combined (I add some salt and cracked black pepper and tweak the levels of acid and spice until it tastes intense and bright.); 1 can chickpeas*; something briny/acidic*: capers (pepperoncini, half-sour pickles; when all else fails, a lot of lemon juice does the trick.); something creamy/rich*: a good dollop of greek yogurt (tahini, organic mayo, Dijon mustard, leftover green goddess or tahini ranch; add in a drizzle of olive oil or an additional spoonful of your); something punchy/sharp*: sliced scallions (grated garlic, flaked smoked trout, harissa, almost-too-many red pepper flakes—the goal is to add flavor!)

Scale:

#favorite #vegetarian

Smashed chickpea salad is the sole reason why I keep an extra can of chickpeas on the top shelf of my pantry. It’s my fallback plan when it’s 11 p.m. and I’m overcome with the urge to break my bad habits and pack my own damn lunch. It comes together in minutes, uses whatever I have on hand, and makes a seriously tasty lunch.

📖 www.bonappetit.com

🥘 Ingredients

after everything’s combined (I add some salt and cracked black pepper and tweak the levels of acid and spice until it tastes intense and bright.)
chickpeas*
1 can
something briny/acidic*: capers (pepperoncini, half-sour pickles; when all else fails, a lot of lemon juice does the trick.)
something creamy/rich*: a good dollop of greek yogurt (tahini, organic mayo, Dijon mustard, leftover green goddess or tahini ranch; add in a drizzle of olive oil or an additional spoonful of your)
something punchy/sharp*: sliced scallions (grated garlic, flaked smoked trout, harissa, almost-too-many red pepper flakes—the goal is to add flavor!)

1

Gather something creamy/rich*: a good dollop of greek yogurt , something punchy/sharp*: sliced scallions , something briny/acidic*: capers , after everything’s combined , chickpeas* .

something creamy/rich*: a good dollop of greek yogurt (tahini, organic mayo, Dijon mustard, leftover green goddess or tahini ranch; add in a drizzle of olive oil or an additional spoonful of your), something punchy/sharp*: sliced scallions (grated garlic, flaked smoked trout, harissa, almost-too-many red pepper flakes—the goal is to add flavor!), something briny/acidic*: capers (pepperoncini, half-sour pickles; when all else fails, a lot of lemon juice does the trick.), after everything’s combined (I add some salt and cracked black pepper and tweak the levels of acid and spice until it tastes intense and bright.), chickpeas*: 1 can
2

I start by rinsing and draining the chickpeas in that can, and then I use the back of a wooden spoon to roughly smash 75% of them. (A potato masher would work even better, but I don’t own one. If you have one, use it! I salute you.) I like to leave some chickpeas intact for textural variation, but mashing most of them helps hold the sandwich together.
3

Then I mix in all the other ingredients. When I say “other ingredients,” I’m being purposefully vague.
4

Sometimes I eat my smashed chickpea salad as is, but most of the time, I make it a sandwich. To ward off Soggy Sandwich Syndrome, I bring the salad to work in a little container, sometimes along with sliced cucumbers or quick-pickled carrots, and pack up a separate container of toast (or toast-like things) to serve underneath the salad: Toasted sourdough, rice cakes (I like this tamari with seaweed flavor), or Norwegian crisp bread, sturdy crackers. When lunchtime comes, I assemble.