Eggplant Crispy Chickpea Salad

This Eggplant Crispy Chickpea Salad with fennel, sweet peppers, and a scrumptious yogurt tahini sauce is packed with flavour and texture, and it’s a breeze to make!

Hello everyone – happy Wednesday! Who also thinks that Wednesdays should be an official extra day off? I think this totally makes sense. However, this would also mean that Thursdays would feel like second Monday right? Anyway, while we’re waiting this to happen, we should at least celebrate id of week with something delicious.

If you know me, you’re aware I’m a salad guy. My husband Andrew and I both are. Strangely, that being salad guys, we’re not too skinny though. That’s because we balance out our salads with ice cream and other desserts as well as some carbs. You want to enjoy ice cream often – eat a salad for your lunch and dinner! That’s all about a good balance haha.

More Salad Ideas

We rarely have a salad as a side dish. Almost always as the main course. That’s why most recipes I share on the Havoc In The Kitchen are pretty hearty, packed with meat or other proteins, cheese, grains, and nuts. Also, I counted that since the beginning of this year, I have shared 8 new salad ideas (And updated two old recipes. And trust me, I have a lot of unpublished stuff.) 8 salad recipes for 4 months, that’s really good! You can browse my catalogue for plenty of salad ideas, but there are some of my favourite this year.

Orange Fennel Pecan Salad

Potato Egg Prosciutto Salad

Potato Ham Egg Salad 

Certainly, with summer approaching, I will be sharing even more salad ideas along with other things.

Eggplant Crispy Chickpea Salad

This Eggplant Crispy Chickpea Salad is a little bit different – more on the hearty side and perfect for not-so-hot days (Well, sometimes those no-so-hot days are the entire summer in Canada lol) It’s also a warm salad, but of course you can serve it chilled too. So what does it offer?

1. Eggplant. If you use eggplant often, you know they tend to absorb lots of oil. Basically, as much as you add it – it will take everything. But who loves soggy, oily eggplant? I don’t. That’s why I’ve been using this technique for a few months. First, you will need to cook the sliced eggplant onto a dry pan, so they would release the liquid – this helps cook them through. Then you can add a bit of oil. The eggplant cooked this way are soft (They don’t have crisp exterior), but they are not mushy. Plus, not oily at all! I believe, you can cook them in air fryer, too. But I haven’t tried myself, so if you do – or if you’ve done that – please do share! Please note I’d recommend a good thick bottom pan for this method, a wok would be perfect.
2. Crispy chickpeas spiced with smoked paprika, chipotle, and za’atar. I used the same idea like with eggplant. And I think you can totally cook them in the air fryer, too. Haven’t tried myself yet. Just give them maybe 5 minutes or so at high temperature. It’s a perfect snacking material, too.

3. Slightly charred sweet peppers and fennel. Again, in a dry pan. Hmmm, do I have a problem? lol

4. Beautiful tahini yogurt sauce. I had some overripe avocado, and it really worked beautifully in here!

It’s Very Versatile, Too!

As always with salads, you can easily customize this Eggplant Crispy Chickpea Salad, too. From many possible additions, you could add some cheese (Think of feta of shaved parmesan!), nuts or seeds (walnuts or sesame seeds should go well) or perhaps even croutons. If you’re looking for even more protein, why not add crispy tofu? What would you add to your version – please do share?!

I hope you like this recipe, and let me know if you’ve given it a try. And each, I think I should definitely post some desserts next week, for a change, would you agree? And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram!

Cheers and see you soon!

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Eggplant Crispy Chickpea Salad

Recipe by Ben | Havocinthekitchen

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: Salads, Winter Salads, Spring Salads

Servings

2-3

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Eggplant Crispy Chickpea Salad with fennel, sweet peppers, and a scrumptious yogurt tahini sauce is packed with flavour and texture, and it’s a breeze to make! Serves 2-3 people as the main course or up to 6 servings as a side dish.

Cook Mode

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Ingredients

• Crispy Chickpeas:

• 1 can (400 gr,) chickpeas, well drained

• 1 tsp. olive oil

• 1/4 tsp. smoked paprika

• a little pinch of chipotle and za’atar, each

• salt, to taste

• Roasted Eggplant:

• 1 small-medium eggplant, cut in large cubes or medium wedges

• 1 tbsp. olive oil

• 1/4 tsp. smoked paprika

• 1/2 tsp. dried herbs (Like Italian seasonings)

• a pinch of chipotle

• ~ 1/4 tsp. of salt or to taste

• Eggplant Crispy Chickpea Salad:

• 1 medium sweet pepper, seeded and sliced

• 1/3 fennel bulb, shredded

• 1 tsp. olive oil

• 1 tbsp. fresh chopped rosemary

• ~ 1 cup of baby greens like arugula or spinach

• Tahini Yogurt Dressing:

• 2-3 tbsp. tahini

• 1/2 cup yogurt

• 1 overripe avocado (optional, if available)

• a pinch of salt, if needed

• Possible Additions:

• Feta, parmesan (or other cheeses), seeds or nuts (like walnuts), crispy feta, pomegranate arils, etc.

Directions

• Crispy Chickpeas:
• Place well-drained chickpeas onto a dry pan and cook 2-3 minutes, over high-medium heat, just to get the excess liquid evaporated. Once the chickpeas appear dry and start changing colour, add the olive oil along with the seasonings. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crispy and browned. Remove from the pan.
• Roasted Eggplant:
• Place the eggplant onto a dry (no oil needed) good heavy-bottom pan (a wok is a good option). Cook for about 10 minutes, over high-medium heat, to release the excess of water. The eggplant will be sticking to the pan, so make sure stir it often.
• Once the liquid has been released and evaporated and the eggplant look dry and soft, add the olive oil and seasonings. Keep cooking for about 3-5 minutes, until the eggplant is nice and glossy. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
• Tahini Yogurt Dressing:
• Simply combine in a bowl the tahini and yogurt, If you have an overripe avocado, add it, too 9In this case use a blender to make the dressing super smooth) Add salt, if necessary. You can also add a bit of warm water, to thinner it up. If you don’t use avocado, I’d recommend using 2/3 cup of the yogurt.
• Salad:
• Place the peppers and fennel onto a dry pan and let them cook over high-medium heat, for about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, to get slightly charred. Then add the olive oil and rosemary and cook few minutes longer, until glossy. Return the eggplant, just to warm it through and off heat.
• Simply divide the salad greens, warm eggplant-pepper-fennel mixture. Sprinkle with the chickpeas and serve with the dressing. Any leftovers would be great for your lunch the next day. Enjoy!