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Chickpeas with Orange, Spring Onion, and Caraway-Roasted Beetroot
I love the combination of beetroot and orange, and putting them together with chickpeas and a spot of caraway and coriander works really well. And if you get fed up with it as a salad, you can chuck it in the food processor and repurpose it as a hummus. If you don’t have time, or don’t like beetroot, the rest of the ingredients make a rather nice salad without it. Although, you might want to throw in some black olives instead.
- 100g dried chick peas soaked and cooked with coriander, cardamom and peppercorns or 1 tin chickpeas
- 1 large or 2 medium beetroot
- 2 oranges
- 3 spring onions
- A tablespoon of chopped mint
- 2 teaspoons of olive oil
- Balsamic vinegar
- Salt and Pepper
For the Roast Beetroot:
- 1 large or 2 small beetroot
- A pinch of caraway seeds
- A pinch of coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon of honey
- 1 – 2 teaspoons olive oil
- Salt and Pepper
- Peel beetroot, cut into smallish wedges, and put in a bowl.
- Crush the coriander and caraway seeds, and add to the beetroot, along with the honey, olive oil, and salt and pepper.
- Mix really well together, preferably with your hands to make sure the beetroot are thoroughly coated.
- Put on a baking tray and stick in a hot oven – 200º / fan 180º / gas mark 6 – for about 40 minutes. Bear in mind that beetroot don’t like being cooked and get their revenge by burning rather easily, so turn them from time to time.
- While the beetroot are cooking, drain the chickpeas, chop a small handful of mint, and thinly slice the spring onions.
Then sort out the oranges:
- Peel one with a potato peeler and cut the peel into very thin julienne strips, or use a zester to make even thinner ribbons.
- Then remove the pith and outer membrane from both oranges and extract the segments from the inner membrane. You are aiming for pieces of orange that are completely free of pith and membrane. There are more precise details of how to achieve this in Diva Notes.
- Put everything into a bowl with the honey, balsamic vinegar and olive oil; season well with salt and pepper, and mix well with your hands.
Diva notes.
Mixing the beetroot with your hands
This is the only way of persuading such a small amount of oil to cover the whole lot. And don’t worry: the stains will come off in a year or so. Or you could try washing them with soap and water if you want the stains out 364 days earlier.
Preparing the Orange: removing the pith
Peel it like you would an apple with a small sharp knife, removing all the pith as well as the skin: in order to do so you have to cut away the first millimetre or two of flesh, which seems a waste but is worth it. Do it over the bowl with all the other ingredients so they benefit from the juice. This helps form the dressing. Then remove the segments from their membrane by sliding the knife between the flesh and the membrane and easing the segment out. Squeeze any juice remaining in the membranes into the bowl.
Soaking the Chickpeas
If using dried, soak them overnight in plenty of water and a teaspoon of Bicarbonate of soda.
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