Balela Lebanese salad is warmed cumin chickpeas mixed through fresh tomato, onions and herbs. Can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch or dinner with your favourite flatbread or part of a mezze.
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Whenever I am stuck for what to eat that’s super quick and healthy, I throw a bowl of balela salad together and happily eat away.
Balela is the Arabic word for cooked chickpeas. It is pronounced Bal-lee-lah. Some pronounce it a little differently, according to region, it is also written as balilah or balila.
🥣Basic Balela Recipe
The foundation of a basic balilah recipe is cooked chickpeas with a little bit of the chickpea juice, lemon, fresh garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and cumin.
This is always eaten with Lebanese pita bread as part of a warm mezze.
It’s a typical hearty Lebanese breakfast food. The combination of flavours is warming, non of the ingredients should be skimped on.
Extra virgin olive oil is always added on top as a garnish.
For years I’ve been making my balilah as a balela salad with added fresh tomato and onion with herbs. I love the combination of warm chickpeas with fresh produce.
😋Why you’ll love this recipe
- Super quick to make, simply throw all the ingredients together
- Can be enjoyed both warm and cool
- This Lebanese salad recipe can be used as a base to add complementing ingredients
- It's a gluten free vegan salad
✔️What you’ll need
🥘Ingredient Notes
Chickpeas - dry or canned can be used. If using dry, make sure to precook the chickpeas and use a tablespoon of the cooked chickpea water rather than just water.
In this post (due to time constraints) I used organic canned chickpeas and kept the aquafaba to make vegan meringue.
Herbs should be fresh and not dried
Cumin is a strong spice and if over used can result in bitterness
🔪Step by Step Guide
Here’s how to make balela salad;
Step 1 - Over medium heat, add chickpeas with water, cumin, garlic, salt & pepper. Once warmed, turn off heat.
Step 2 - Add all ingredients except fresh lemon juice and mix through. Serve by topping with lemon juice and sprinkling extra cumin.
💡What to serve with?
Balilah is perfect for eating with Lebanese flatbread, also known as pita bread.
It normally features as part of a warm mezze were you can find items such as fragrant zaatar (a wonderful Lebanese herb blend that I can't live without), creamy baba ghanouj, hummus and more.
This salad though can easily be eaten on it’s own. It holds a good amount of protein and is filling.
💭Pro Tips
Only fresh produce should be used, with the exception of chickpeas and spices. This ensures maximum flavour.
The ratios of ingredients can be altered to suit your taste, for example I love to load mine up with garlic, however my husband doesn’t.
🍳Variations
If you’d like your balela salad to be creamy, add a teaspoon of tahini* and mix it through well. This adds a lovely hint of sesame nutty flavour.
Use this recipe as a base and then add additional fresh flavours through it. I sometimes love to add fresh cucumbers, red cabbage and red capsicum (bell pepper).
Note - The ratio of chickpeas should always be greater than all other ingredients.
Whilst traditionally balila is served warm, sometimes I like to make a bigger batch and store it in the fridge to eat the next day. I find the flavours to be a little deeper.
🥘Related Recipes
Did you enjoy making the balela Lebanese Salad? I would love to hear from you, leave me a comment below and give me a rating. This will help me sustain Plant Based Folk.
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Janelle x
📖 Recipe
Balela (Lebanese Salad)
Ingredients
- 250 g Chickpeas canned or dry (pre-cook dry variety)
- 3 small Tomato diced small
- ½ small White onion diced small
- 1 handful Parsley flat leaf and roughly chopped small
- 10 leaves Mint roughly chopped small
- 1 small Garlic clove crushed
- 2½ g Cumin
- 15 ml Water if using dry chickpeas, use the cooked chickpea water
- 15 ml Olive oil extra virgin
- 15 ml Lemon juice fresh
Instructions
- Over medium heat, add warm chickpeas with water, cumin and garlic. Once warmed, turn off heat.
- Add all ingredients except fresh lemon juice and mix through. Serve by topping with lemon juice and sprinkling extra cumin.
Video
Notes
- Only fresh produce should be used, with the exception of chickpeas. This ensure maximum flavours.
- The ratios of ingredients can be altered to suit your taste, for example I love to load mine up with garlic, however my husband doesn’t.
- Chickpeas - dry or canned can be used. If using dry, make sure to precook the chickpeas and use a tablespoon of the cooked chickpea water rather than just water. In this post (due to time constraints) I used organic canned chickpeas and kept the aquafaba to make vegan meringue.
- If you’d like your balela salad to be creamy, add a teaspoon of tahini and mix it through well. This adds a lovely hint of sesame nutty flavour.
- Use this recipe as a base and then add additional fresh flavours through it. I sometimes love to add fresh cucumbers, red cabbage and red capsicum (bell pepper).
- Whilst traditionally balila is served warm, sometimes I like to make a bigger batch and store it in the fridge to eat the next day. I find the flavours to be a little deeper.
ella
thank you janelle for another fantastic vegan recipe. i’m so glad i came across your site
Janelle
Awww, thank you for making my recipes, I appreciate your support
J