Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad

For Day 5 of BM#16, I am going to share a simple and very refreshing Salad with my star ingredient, Chickpeas/Channa/Garbanzo Beans. Usually i make Sundals for my evening snack and sometimes will skip cooking n simply toss the legumes/dals with lime n carrots or even sometimes with yogurt. Salads which doesn't require cooking/half cooking process impress me a lot. One such recipe was this Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad which I bookmarked @ Heather's Dish. In the original recipe, she added pulsed baby spinach but I skipped it becoz I didn't have it and also made it little Desi Style with the addition of kashmiri chilli, chaat masala and cumin powder. I loved eating this salad a lot than the chickpeas Sundal. This is very refreshing, tangy n lil spicy. Perfect for both Sunny & Rainy  days. Friends do give it a try, its very simple and I am sure you will also love it like me. Now to the recipe...

Ingredients

1. Chickpeas    1 cup (cooked or canned)
2. Red Onion    1/4 cup or lil' less (finely chopped)
3. Ginger   1/2 tsp(finely chopped)
4. Cilantro/Corinader leaves  1/3 cup (washed n finely chopped)
5. Lime Juice    from 1 lime
6. Salt     to taste
7. Sugar    1/4 tsp or to taste ( replace with honey also)
8. Kashmiri Chilli Powder    1/2 tsp or to taste
9. Cumin Powder    1/4 tsp   or to taste
10. Chaat masala     few pinches or to taste
11. Olive Oil    few drops(optional)

Method

• If using dry chickpeas, soak overnight or at least 6 hours, then pressure with enough water to 2 whistles, drain n keep ready.
• Now take a mixing bowl, add chickpeas n all other ingredients one by one then toss well.
• Check for salt n other spices, then add accordingly.
• And cover the mixing bowl with cling wrap n refrigerate it for at least 10-15 minutes.
• After refrigeration chilled Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad ready to relish!

Notes:
First n foremost thing, wash your cilantro thoroughly in running water.
Addition of finely chopped raw mangoes will also give a nice tangy n yummy taste.
Can also add some finely shredded carrots to make it even more healthy n colorful (I forgot to do so).
Then You can recreate it with any desired legume/dal/veg.