Chickpea Salad

Ingredients

• 1 small red onion, peeled and finely sliced
• 1–2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and finely sliced
• 2 handfuls of ripe red or yellow tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 2–3 lemons
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained, or around 4 large handfuls of soaked (overnight) and cooked chickpeas
• Fresh peas, or snow peas
• a handful of fresh coriander, chopped
• a handful of fresh green or purple basil, finely ripped
• 200g feta cheese

Directions

1. Mix the tomatoes, onion and chillies in a bowl.
2. Dress with the juice of 2 lemons and about 3 times as much good quality extra virgin olive oil. Season to taste.
3. Heat the chickpeas in a pan, then add 90 per cent of them to the bowl. Mush up the remaining chickpeas and add these as well – they will give a nice creamy consistency. Allow to marinate for a little while and serve at room temperature.
4. Just as you’re ready to serve, give the salad a final dress with the fresh coriander, basil and peas. Taste one last time for seasoning – you may want to add more lemon juice at this point. Place on a serving dish and crumble over with the feta.
5. Enjoy with irresponsible amounts of New Zealand pinot gris!