Category:
Warm Salad

Warm Céci Salad

Ingredients:

chick peas
onion
vinegar
sugar
sesame
salt
olive oil
parsley

Sort, wash, and soak a cup of garbanzos, chick peas, céci or whatever you want to call them in water to cover overnight. The next day, bring them very slowly to the boil and cook until tender. Skim the froth a couple of times. Have them just barely covered with cooking liquid when done.
Peel and chop a fine red salad onion into fine dice. Mix the onion in a deep bowl with two tablespoons of balsamic or red wine vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar. Leave these to souse for a couple of hours.
Toast a quarter cup of sesame seeds in a moderate oven until they become aromatic. Don't let them burn! Grind them in your spice mill at the finest setting. Whip in three tablespoons of cooking liquor from the garbanzos to moisten and partially emulsify the oil in the ground seeds. The mixture will lighten in colour when you have beaten it enough.
Add half a teaspoon of salt to the onion mixture. Lightly drain the garbanzos, reserving the rest of the liquor in which they cooked. Add them to the onion mixture while still warm, along with a tablespoon of fruity olive oil. Mix gently.
Add the sesame paste and and a big handful of roughly chopped fresh parsley. Now add, a couple of tablespoons at a time, just enough of the cooking liquor to moisten the salad. Use only enough to make the sauce adhere to the principals in the mix, it shouldn't quite be runny enough to pool at the bottom of the bowl.
This may be served immediately, or chilled. Or both, of course! Fresh hot pita or thick slices of bread grilled with oil will be necessary.

Notes:

Of course you could make this with tinned céci, with, of course, the usual caveats. I prefer to cook these staples myself; I feel that I retain more control over the eventual outcome. You can even do it on the road, although I have to admit it takes a certain amount of determination.

Recipe Index

More Salads:

Summer Squash Salad  |  Cantaloupe in Vinaigrette | Blood Orange Salad | Young Beans |  Autumn Garden Salad |  Tart Salad | Garlic Flower and Snow Pea Salad | Green Mango Warm Salad |