Lentil, chickpea & feta salad

Looking for a tasty salad that packs a punch with flavour and protein? Then you need to try this super simple lentil salad with chickpeas and feta. This recipe is so quick and easy that you can whip it up in less than 15 minutes. I am a big lover of grain-based salads and my personal favourite is Hellenic Republic’s Cypriot Grain salad, made with freekah and puy lentils. BUT, that salad is very time intensive and so I have created my own simpler version. It doesn’t have quite the same intensity of flavour but it’s fresh, healthy, yummy and EASY. And I favour easy over hard any day of the week. You can adapt this recipe to taste. Feta, crumbled goats cheese or even warm pan-fried haloumi are all delicious on top of this lentil salad.

Lentil, chickpea & feta salad

Ingredients:

• 1 x tin brown lentils
• 1 x tin chickpeas
• 100g drained roasted capsicum (or you can roast your own)
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 punnet cherry or grape tomatoes (a mix of colours is nice)
• 50g chopped feta or goats cheese
• Handful chopped parsley and/or coriander

Method:

• Drain and rinse chickpeas and lentils under cold running water.
• Chop onion, tomatoes, roasted capsicum and herbs.
• Toss all ingredients in a bowl with half the herbs. Pour over dressing, mix to combine and then scatter with cheese and remaining herbs. That’s it!

Dressing

Mix red wine vinegar, olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, half a clove of minced garlic, a sprinkle of salt and pepper together in a bowl and toss to combine.

For special occasions I make the Cypriot Grain Salad, which has yummy figs, pomegranate seeds in it. Here’s a little pic for you.

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