Salad Days #5: Carrot, Alfalfa & Chickpea Salad with Seeds
Alfalfa sprouts used to be terribly unfashionable didn’t they? My how times have changed. Cast your minds back to when ‘health food shops’ were only frequented by people who modelled their lives on Neil from The Young Ones. Dried pulses, fruits, nuts, carob, tofu, gluten-free, lactose-free, spelt – all of these things are now widely available and celebrated.
So, let’s cleanse our virtual systems shall we? After all those potatoes and cheeses we’ve been cyber-munching the past few days (I ate the lot fo’ real don’t forget), it’s time to lighten up a little. The inspiration for this salad came from the most unlikely of places. A little while ago I found myself stranded late at night in a train station with a problem, I was hungry, really hungry. I can’t remember where I was going or why I ever considered buying food at that moment rather than waiting for the safety of my own kitchen but we’ll let it go.
The options were bad, real bad. No decent purveyor of grubbage in sight. Not even a Pret or an EAT for chrissakes. And that is when it happened. I was forced to buy a sandwich in Boots. Yes, Boots the chemist. After a quick soul destroying scan of the pre-packaged sarnies my eyes settled on a sandwich that looked slightly more edible than the rest (not made by Boots I hasten to add), containing carrot, alfalfa and houmous. So there, I nicked the idea and made it better. Ha. It’s crunchy, fresh, damn good for you and surprisingly filling. I like to make a batch and add a good pile to my plate for extra angel points. Don’t worry, there’s a zingy dressing to liven things up a bit and of course, you could add some cheese, if you were feeling naughty. Cheers bugs!
Carrot, Alfalfa and Chickpea Salad with Seeds
4 large carrots
1 large handful alfalfa sprouts
1 handful sunflower seeds
1 tin chickpeas (or soak you own, if you have the time)
1 dessert spoon wholegrain mustard
Juice of 1 large lemon
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
- Grate or shred the carrots and mix with the alfalfa and chick peas.
- Mix the mustard , black pepper, a pinch of salt, lemon juice and oil. Adjust the quantities to your taste if necessary.
- Mix some (or all) of the dressing into the salad and sprinkle in the seeds.
Category: Blogiversary!, Gluten-free, Healthy, Lunchbox, Pulses, Salads, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables 6 comments »
July 10th, 2008 at 11:07 am
From a sandwich to a beautiful, healthy salad…you go Helen!
July 10th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Way to take lemons and make lemonade… something like that anyway…
July 10th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Yummy! I like the zingy dressing! This looks great – some of my favorite things all together.
July 11th, 2008 at 4:20 am
Oh yes – this is on my to do list – I don’t hate alfalfa but sometimes the tubs I buy it in are just too big and it is hard to know how to use the leftovers – this is an excellent idea – and commiserations on the sandwich – I hated the soggy sandwiches in the UK
July 18th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Hi everyone and thanks for your comments.
Johanna – I know what you mean about the tubs, a little goes a long way with alfalfa as the taste is quite strong and too much can be bitter. I like a handful in a BLT actually, with avocado. Yum.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I’ve always loved sprouts, even when they were deeply unfashionable and naff – love their nuttiness. And this salad looks like health food heaven!
Jeannes last blog post..Deconstructed cherry pavlova "shots"