Vegan Chickpea Salad with roasted onion and dill cream- a delicious and refreshing warm weather salad with sweet onion cream and the bright clean flavor of fresh dill. Bonus points for being vegan and nut free without even trying.
This onion cream sauce popped up in my twitter feed last week and I was intrigued. As an added bonus I discovered ChefSteps, the originator of the recipe and got to read a lively debate about recipes with precise amounts versus recipes that inspire.
As with so many things in life I think I’m somewhere in the middle. In baking you need precise measurements (at least the first several times you make something) because ‘to taste’ is impossible and well science. But cooking? I like a choice and the easiest way to have a choice is to be given measurements. If you’re like me you are going to wing it anyway, maybe. Sometimes I like the box, I like being able to take my creative cap off and just follow the directions or, on rare occasion, literally just open the box.
Oh but the onion cream, yes the onion cream. Sweet and fresh and light, it tastes like spring to me. I put it on pasta. I ate some on eggs. I might have even had a spoonful or two straight from the jar. I would have put more on this salad if I hadn’t already used up half in all the other things I just couldn’t resist adding it to.
Vegan Chickpea Salad with roasted onion and dill cream
ingredients
- 6 cups cooked chickpeas- drained (about a pound of dry chickpeas if you’re beginning there)
- Zest and juice from one medium lemon
- A few glugs of evoo
- 1/2 red onion
- 1/4 cup minced parsley
- ¼ cup minced fresh dill
- 1/2-1 cup dill onion sauce (see directions below)
- About a ¼ tsp. of kosher salt (or to taste, I tend to under salt to allow for a bit of finishing salt if desired)
- Smoked Paprika
directions
- To make the onion cream I roasted two large yellow onions in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes (I put them in the oven as it heated and set the timer for 400 oven it hit temperature). Once the onions were cool I discarded the peels and pureed the onion in my blender for about two minutes before adding about 1/3 cup of olive oil, a teaspoon of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. I then blended for a few more minutes adding a ½ cup of fresh dill at the very end and blending until the dill was incorporated.
- To make the chickpea salad simple toss all the ingredients except the salt and paprika together in a large bowl and finish with the salt and smoked paprika.
- Serve slightly chilled.
- The onion cream will keep in the fridge for about three days.
Vegan Chickpea Salad with roasted onion and dill cream
Ingredients
- 6 cups cooked chickpeas- drained this starts as about a pound of dry chickpeas
- Zest and juice from one medium lemon
- A few glugs of evoo
- 1/2 red onion
- 1/4 cup minced parsley
- ¼ cup minced fresh dill
- 1/2-1 cup dill onion sauce see directions below
- About a ¼ tsp. of kosher salt or to taste, I tend to under salt to allow for a bit of finishing salt if desired
- Smoked Paprika
Instructions
- To make the onion cream I roasted two large yellow onions in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes (I put them in the oven as it heated and set the timer for 400 oven it hit temperature). Once the onions were cool I discarded the peels and pureed the onion in my blender for about two minutes before adding about 1/3 cup of olive oil, a teaspoon of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. I then blended for a few more minutes adding a ½ cup of fresh dill at the very end and blending until the dill was incorporated.
- To make the chickpea salad simple toss all the ingredients except the salt and paprika together in a large bowl and finish with the salt and smoked paprika.
- Serve slightly chilled.
- The onion cream will keep in the fridge for about three days.
Excited by all things onion and vegan? Check out this Onion Salad, yes onion salad. It’s got mellow onion flavor, bright color, and cilantro too!
Leave a Reply