Chickpea and Apricot Salad with a Pineapple-Ginger-Cilantro Dressing

Announcement time!

(No, nothing on the relationship front..)

While I modestly shared the news of passing the.most.important.exam.of.my.life, I figure you guys may be more excited about this news: my photos are in a cookbook! In Tess‘ newest cookbook, no less. I am not sure what was more exciting: new Tess recipes or  being a published foodie photographer? 🙂 (I choose the former, actually)

In Tess’ latest cookbook, Get Waisted, she has teamed up with Dr. Mary Clifton, to create 100 delicious, healthy recipes. She has included healthy modifications to older recipes and all-new favourites. Bean and rice coconut banana curry, Black bean and rice bowl with mango salsa, Japanese ume rice, Lemon lover’s red lentil spinach soup, Mexican polenta bowl, Pasta caulifredo, Rosemary polenta with mushrooms, Samosa wrap with cilantro chutney, Spicy Indian chickpea fritters.. ok, ok, I will stop the temptation. You can find all of the recipes on Vegansprout if you are curious. 🙂 Suffice it to say, the recipes are creative and drool-worthy. And I photographed a handful of them.

One of the recipes Tess included is one of my favourites from her first book: Black Bean, Cilantro and Apricot Salad. I routinely make it, changing ingredients, matching what I have in my kitchen.

This time, I swapped the black beans for chickpeas; the mango juice for pineapple juice; swapped the corn for more carrots and scrapped the spinach altogether. Combined with the sweet dried apricots and cilantro-ginger spiked dressing, you have a delicious summer bean salad. Sweet, salty, spicy, crunchy.. It is really hard to mess it up.

The photos in the cookbook are true to the recipe, thus you won’t see this in there. Trust me, I tried. Tess, I just made your salad with pecans instead of walnuts.. can’t you just change your recipe?…. NO GO FROM TESS! You will see this salad, in its many incarnations this summer, though. Perfect for potlucks and summer gatherings. Especially if Houston’s weather is as hot and humid as I fear. Last I checked, there were highs of 35C, feels like 45C with a 50% humidity. This is no heat wave. This.Is.Houston. It will soon become my new reality. GAH! I am sweating just thinking about it. I may not be turning on my oven or stove very often, methinks. 😉

Have you tried any of Tess’ recipes yet? This cookbook would be a great place to start. You can buy it directly from Tess here (discounts if you buy more than one cookbook) or on Amazon (kindle and hard copy).

This is my submission to Deb for this week’s Souper Sundays and to this week’s Healthy Vegan Friday.

Chickpea and Apricot Salad with a Pineapple-Ginger-Cilantro Dressing
Adapted from my Black Bean, Cilantro and Apricot Salad

2 cups cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained if canned
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/2-3/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 green onions, finely sliced

1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (I used Meyer lemon juice this time)
1.5 tsp tamari or soy sauce
1.5 tsp grated ginger
2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1. Combine chickpeas, dried apricots, carrots, cilantro and green onions in a large bowl.

2. In a separate small bowl, combine pineapple juice, olive oil, lemon juice, tamari, ginger, garlic. Taste and add salt, to taste. Mix well.

3. Toss marinade with bean mixture and marinade in the refrigerator for at least several hours.

Serves 4.