Balilah

I’m always open to new ways of incorporating the humble, yet delicious, chickpea into my diet. Legumes generally lend themselves well to all manner of savoury (and even sweet) food, but the chickpea has a soft spot in my stomach. I simply can’t imagine a world without hummus.

Randy (of Insurgence Records / Rebel Time Records) kindly passed this recipe for balilah, a chickpea salad, on to me. He claims no credit for originality – the dish is a traditional Palestinian one (which probably means that, just like hummus, there are variations found in every household across the Middle East). But he says it’s so good, it deserves to be spread around. He’s right. It’s almost hummus without the hard work, with the added bonus of lots of distinctive flavour hits as you chomp your way through each mouthful. It’s fresh, substantial, cheap and perfect on its own or with a few other things thrown in too – I’ve added tomatoes to one bowl and fresh baby spinach to another and both worked a treat.

Serves 4-6

3 cups canned chickpeas, drained
3 spring onions, ends trimmed, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. cumin (for best flavour use whole seeds, gently toast ’em for a few minutes, then grind ’em up in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder)
1/3 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine the chickpeas, spring onions and parsley together in a bowl.

Whisk or shake the rest of the ingredients together in another suitable container, then pour over the chickpeas and toss to coat evenly. Let sit for 10 minutes so everything mingles nicely then eat, preferably with friends and a cold white wine in the garden on a balmy summer’s eve.