The word salad often conjures up the memories of bland, boring albeit healthy food items that are eaten to attain and maintain fitness. Sulk no more. As there are those salads too that give nutrition without compromising on taste. The Spiced Spinach And Chickpea Salad With Apricot And Onions stand out as one such that has all the ingredients to spice up your taste buds in an exciting way. The chickpea mixture made by lightly cooking in virgin olive oil with garlic, lemon juice, brown sugar and a few tickling spices like chilli and garam masala gives a blast of flavours. This mixture is mixed with the great-tasting apricots, onions, and green spinach that evenly distributes the flavours in the bowl and gives sheer satisfaction of eating healthy, fresh and appetising.
Origin Of Salads
First and foremost, what’s in the word salad? The present-day English word salad originated from the French salade, which in turn comes from the Vulgar Latin herba salata meaning salted herb. As for the origin of salad, Romans and Greeks were the ones to create the first-ever salads by gathering and layering raw vegetables, drizzling vinegar, oil, and herbs over top, around 1st Century CE. However, an interesting event preceded this. Eminent Greek physician, Hippocrates, of 370 BC, attracted huge criticism when he asserted that eating raw vegetables in a salad before supper helps clear the bowels of obstructions. Fast Forward to the 21st Century, salads are a huge craze, have gained massive acceptance and are an indispensable item for a balanced diet. And more importantly, most salads are consumed today before the main course, as it lubricates the digestive path and gives an enzymatic spark.
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Coming to the health benefits of Spiced Spinach And Chickpea Salad With Apricot And Onions salad, well they are truly overwhelming. Beginning with spinach, it’s excellent for eye health due to the presence of carotenoids, namely beta carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin and great for immunity as well. Next comes chickpeas that have zero cholesterol and are called a complete protein as they contain all nine essential amino acids needed to enable proper functioning of the body. Apricots? Well, this one has many virtues, but the highlight is its high flavonoid which protects against inflammation reducing the risk of many diseases including heart and diabetes.
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 5-7 minutes
Servings: 2
Ingredients:
• ¼ extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 50 gms chickpeas ( rinsed and drained)
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 ½ tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• 80 gms of fresh baby spinach
• ¾ cup dried apricots, cut into thin slices
• ½ small red onion, thinly sliced
• White sesame seeds
Method:
1. In a pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.
2. Add chopped garlic and cook for 1 minute. Turn off the heat.
3. Add chickpeas, lemon juice, brown sugar, cumin, garam masala, coriander, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper to the pan.
4. Then turn on the heat again. Bring mixture just to a simmer, cover the pan and leave it aside.
5. In a bowl, combine spinach leaves, apricots, and red onions, and add warm chickpea mixture to it and toss well to combine.
6. Garnish with white sesame seeds.
Salads aren’t so dull and uninteresting after all? Activate your appetite and stimulate your mind with a rare, biting, differently-tasting sweet and lightly spiced bowl of this salad. Needless to say, the health benefits of this one is a big motivator and can’t be lauded enough.
