Chick Pea Salad with Curried Lime Vinaigrette

Today a client asked me to make a curried chick pea salad.  I don’t have one in my repetoire   but I gave it a little thought and it really couldn’t be simpler to make.

Generally speaking I do make things pretty healthy.  So the idea of a mayo based anything doesn’t really ever pop into my head.  I just immediately thought curry lime vinaigrette.  For the salad I just used what I had in my fridge.  Onions, green onions, red bell pepper, cilantro, celery, carrot and a couple of cans of chick peas... (note- when putting carrots in a salad I think they taste way better if you cut them into the size you want and then blanch them in boiling salted water for a minute or two)

The vinaigrette was another mish mosh of what I had….  Olive oil, lemon, lime, sherry vinegar, red chili flakes, cumin seed, turmeric, curry powder, s&p and just whisk it all together.  Throw it all together and let it sit a little bit to give the beans a chance to soak up some of the dressing.  I tasted it… adjusted a little bit.  More salt, red chili flakes, lime.  But it still seemed flat in the texture.  It was soft and crunchy with the beans, the red peppers and all but I thought it could be better.  I had some roasted almond slivers left over from last nights dinner and I threw them in too.  They made all the difference!  It was perfect! :) 

This leads me to say this....  You don’t need a recipe to make something.  What we need is to use our heads and our mouths to come up with something really great.  Seriously.  Take a little leap of faith in your ability to know what is right and what needs adjusting.  I am not going to preach here but I have a few cookbooks from other countries…  when I compare the way they are written to cookbooks from the U.S. there is a big difference.  We love to be told step by step what to do!  We also love times!  When our pasta isn’t done in 11 minutes we do a little panic.  I know I infuriate people when they ask me how long something takes to cook.  I usually say till its done.  Seriously, your oven is different then my oven, you may have started with a colder piece of meat, you may have cut your veggies to a different size.  Its all an approximation.  We need to use our eyes, noses, taste and sense of touch more- especially in cooking.