This is a vegetarian dish but can be easily served warm next to a hearty beef stew or saucy roast. it can also stand on its own as a complete meal. I generally roast each vegetable separately, but you can steam, blanch and sauté any of the vegetables you choose or even use leftover veggies.
I’ve purposely split the recipe below into three sections to show you how versatile it is. the base is the grain. almost any grain will work well – quinoa, couscous, rice – but go ahead, try it with millet! Use any vegeta- bles at any time of the year. i’ve provided summer vegetables below; in colder months, I love to roast parsnips and Japanese pumpkin. These chickpeas are delicious, satisfying and fun, but you can substitute any other legume, pulse (green lentils), seed (sunflower, pepitas) or tree nut (walnuts or almonds).
Roasted Chickpea Millet Salad
Servings
Ingredients
- 1 cup millet raw
- 2-3 large handfuls mint and/or cilantro roughly chopped
- Juice of two lemons or 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil divided
- Sea salt
- 3 grinds fresh black pepper
- 3-4 cups of your favorite summer vegetables: zucchini and any other summer squash carrots, bell peppers, snow or sugar peas, cremini mushrooms, eggplant, or fennel.
- 2 cups cooked chickpeas (it is supposedly possible to find fresh chickpeas at this time of year but i haven’t lived long enough to tell the tale. i pre-soak and boil dried chickpeas with a bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon smoky paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon dried turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger grated
- 3 tablespoons olive oil or butter
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- 3 grinds black pepper
- 1/4 red onion finely chopped
Instructions
- 1 After rinsing and draining the millet well, heat a heavy-bottomed, lidded pan. 2 Add the millet with a small splash of oil. shake and stir the pan to toast the grain until just browned, about 3 minutes. add 2 cups of hot liquid (water or any homemade chicken, beef or veg- etable stock) and one teaspoon of salt. Bring it to a boil. Turn the flame down to a simmer and keep the pot partially covered while the grain is absorbed, about 20 minutes. 3 Cover completely; add the lemon juice or vinegar, 1⁄4 cup oil, salt and pepper to the millet. take off the heat and let stand for 5 minutes. 4 Preheat oven to 400°F and line a few baking trays with parchment paper. 5 Cube and toss the vegetables in a mixing bowl with remaining 1⁄4 cup oil, then spread them out on the prepared trays and roast until ready. (i often like to roast each vegetable separately or combine only those that have similar cooking times.) 6 Raise the oven to 450°F. 7 Lay out chickpeas evenly on the tray. If you pile them up, they will steam rather than crisp up. Bake for 15 minutes, stirring once. You can take them out earlier if you want them chewier or later if you want them to be drier. 8 Combine the dressing ingre- dients in a container or mixing bowl. 9 In a large mixing bowl add the cooked millet, cooked vegeta- bles, and all or as many of the roasted chickpeas as you want to include. add the herbs andthe dressing ingredients, mixing and tasting as you go. the millet does absorb a lot of the liquid, so if you do make this dish in advance, you might need to add more oil or lemon juice before serving.
- Tip if you end up roasting fennel for this salad, reserve the fronds to chop up and use as a fresh herb in place of the cilantro or mint.
- As seen in the Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller Magazine (Shavuot 2013) – Subscribe Now
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