This chick­pea and mint sal­ad is re­fresh­ing, light and per­fect as a side sal­ad with grilled chick­en or fish or as a quick lunch. You can swap the chick­peas for any oth­er canned beans that you have on hand or sub­sti­tute mint with chives or basil. We es­pe­cial­ly love the com­bi­na­tion of lemon and mint but of course, use what is read­i­ly avail­able at your near­by fruit and veg­etable stalls.

CHICK­PEA-MINT SAL­AD

IN­GRE­DI­ENTS

2 cans chick­peas, drained

2 medi­um toma­toes, chopped

1 medi­um cu­cum­ber, peeled, de­seed­ed and diced

2 gar­lic cloves, grat­ed

⅛ cup chopped mint

1 ta­ble­spoon lemon zest

¼ cup lemon juice

½ cup ex­tra-vir­gin olive oil

1 ½ tea­spoons salt

1 tea­spoon fresh­ly ground black pep­per

¼ cup mint leaves

¼ cup crum­bled fe­ta cheese

DI­REC­TIONS

1 In a small bowl, add gar­lic, salt and lemon juice. Mix and let sit for 5 min­utes. This al­lows the lemon juice to break down the gar­lic so that it tastes less pun­gent and raw in the sal­ad.

2 Then, whisk ex­tra-vir­gin olive oil in­to your lemon-gar­lic mix­ture. Add chopped mint and lemon zest and mix un­til just com­bined.

3 In a medi­um-sized bowl, add toma­toes, cu­cum­bers and chick­peas; toss.

4 Pour vinai­grette over veg­eta­bles and toss un­til all are coat­ed with the sal­ad dress­ing.

5 Top sal­ad with crum­bled fe­ta and mint leaves. Serve cold or at room tem­per­a­ture.