Kala Chana Salad-Black Chickpea Salad.

Diwali-the much awaited festivities loaded with sweets passed by.....my brother and family made a quick visit and I was a busy aunt to his three kids. I made soooo many goodies for them and Diwali was a blast.

The whole week was loaded with sweets, cakes, puddings....and I made this salad for lunch two days back. I mean you need to take a break from all the temptations once in a while right??

Kala chana or kadala (as it is known in malayalam) is a protein rich power packed lentil....traditionally we malayalees love to have it with puttu...the famous puttu and kadala curry...is one of my fav too.

We had this salad with oil free roti........and believe me...it was sooo good......I tasted this for the first time near Mysore Palace when I visited, as a kid.....again while travelling to North India at railway stations..

And now the good news....long back I wrote to the international culinary magazine honest cooking and totally forgot about that until yesterday when I got a mail from Kalle Bergman, the editor in chief of Honest Cooking and I was so happy to be their newest contributor.  Honest Cooking is an international online culinary magazine with the ambition to truly change the face of online food media.  They feature over 300 of the world's most interesting food and beverage writers, bloggers, photographers and Chefs, in a magazine that aims to become the leading and most inspiring place for serious culinary debate, salivating recipes, interesting food news and international food-fun, they want to be smaller, quicker, funnier, smarter and more interesting than all of the current established food websites.

This healthy kala chana salad is my first contribution on Honest  Cooking.

Try this healthy vegan salad and you will love it.

Ingredients:
Dried black chickpeas (kadala): 1/2 cup.
Onion: 1, chopped.
Tomato: 1, chopped.
Green chilly: 1, chopped finely.
Carrot: 1/2, grated.
Lemon juice: 1 tsp.
Salt to taste.
Coriander leaves to garnish (optional).

Method:
Soak the dry chickpeas overnight or about 5 to 6 hours.
Wash and drain the chickpeas.
Put it in a pressure cooker with enough water.
Allow the chickpea to cool down.
In a large bowl add the chickpea and all the other ingredients and mix well.
Add more salt if needed.

Serve with oil free roti...a truly healthy meal.

Tips:

If you have cooked chickpea, then all you have to do is chop the vegetables and mix it, ready in about 5 to 10 minutes.

Reduce green chilly by half if you cannot tolerate.

You can chill the salad and serve.

You can also make this recipe with white chickpea known as kabuli chana.

Also try Chickpea Yogurt Salad.