Easy Balela Salad (Middle Eastern Chickpea Salad)
Balela salad is a classic Middle Eastern chickpea salad. Made with tender chickpeas tossed with chopped tomato, onions, herbs, and spices.
Servings: 2 people
Calories: 331kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 250 grams Chickpeas canned or dry (pre-cook dry variety)
- 1 tbs Chickpea water aquafaba
- 1½ small Tomato diced small
- ½ small White onion diced small (or red)
- 1 handful Flat leaf parsley roughly chopped small
- 10 leaves Mint roughly chopped small
Dressing
- 1 small Garlic clove crushed
- ½ teaspoon Cumin or to taste
- 1⅓ tbs Olive oil extra virgin
- 1 small Lemon juiced, or to taste
- 1½ teaspoon Salt or to taste
- 1¼ teaspoon Black pepper or to taste
Instructions
- If you'd like a warm chickpea salad do this step, otherwise skip this step. Over medium heat, in a saucepan add chickpeas with aquafaba (chickpea water), cumin and garlic, salt and black pepper. Once warmed, turn off heat. This should take a couple of minutes.250 grams Chickpeas, 1 tbs Chickpea water, 1 small Garlic clove, ½ teaspoon Cumin, 1½ teaspoon Salt, 1¼ teaspoon Black pepper
- In a large mixing bowl, add the chickpeas, diced vegetables, chopped herbs. Gently toss together.1½ small Tomato, ½ small White onion, 1 handful Flat leaf parsley, 10 leaves Mint
- Whisk together all the dressing ingredients (if you warmed the chickpeas you'll need to just combine the lemon juice and oil). Then drizzle it over the salad and gently toss again until it is incorporated well. Do a taste test and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Serve with an extra sprinkle of cumin. See serving suggestions for ideas and pairings.1⅓ tbs Olive oil, 1 small Lemon
Video
Notes
Use the freshest produce available for best flavor
Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) can be from a can (fast method) or can be cooked from dry, which will need to be precooked prior to adding them to this salad.
You may also like this Lebanese butter bean salad.
This recipe post was originally released March 2021 and has since been updated with new images and copy.
Nutrition
Calories: 331kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Sodium: 1761mg | Potassium: 670mg | Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 807IU | Vitamin C: 44mg | Calcium: 104mg | Iron: 5mg