This is a great favourite of mine. I love the balance between the sour sweetness of the pomegranate molasses, the peppery warmth of the mint and the slight smokiness of chickpeas and toasted sunflower seeds. Perfect served alongside most meat, chicken and fish dishes, this salad can also be served as a light meal accompanied by a cheese and bread platter. I like red or black grapes in this salad because they look beautiful, but green will do. Preferably choose seedless grapes but if they are not available, halve the grapes and flick out the seeds.
2 cups canned or cooked dried chickpeas (see tips for cooking dried beans below)
200 g grapes, halved if large
¹⁄³ telegraph cucumber, peeled, deseeded and sliced
¼ cup finely chopped mint
¼ cup finely chopped spring onions or chives
60 g sunflower seeds
50 g whole skin-on almonds mint sprigs to garnish
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
½ tsp salt
Rinse and drain the canned chickpeas if using. Combine the chickpeas, grapes, cucumber, mint and spring onions or chives in a bowl.
Toast the sunflower seeds in a dry frypan over low heat for 4–5 minutes, stirring frequently as they scorch very easily. Transfer to a plate and allow to cool. Toast the almonds separately in the same frypan for 5–6 minutes untilquite a deep brown. Cool and roughly chop.
Just prior to serving, add the sunflower seeds and almonds to the bowl containing the salad ingredients.
In a small screw-top jar, shake together the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad.
Toss gently and tip onto a serving platter or bowl. Garnish with mint sprigs.
Slow cooking is the best method I know of to cook dried beans. No pre-soaking is required. If you prefer to soak the beans in cold water prior to cooking, the cooking times will be similar whether the beans have been soaked or not. Cooking times will vary according to the variety of dried bean, its age and quality, as well as the temperature reached in the slow cooker on high.
I don’t think it is worth cooking less than 450 g of beans at a time — this equates to 6 cups of cooked beans. When the beans are cool, I set aside the amount needed for the dish I am making and freeze the remainder in 2 cup lots for future use. Crockpot, slow cooker and speedy slow cooker dried beans are always cooked on High. The approximate cooking time for 450 g dried chickpeas is 4–4¾ hours in a crockpot and slow cooker or 3–3¾ hours in a speedy slow cooker. Do not add salt to dried beans until they are tender as salt will toughen the beans and prevent them cooking properly. Acidic ingredients such as tomatoes or wine also slow the cooking time of dried beans.
Preheat the slow cooker for 20 minutes.
Rinse 450 grams of beans and drain well. Place in the slow cooker and add six cups of very hot water.
Cover with the lid and cook, following the times suggested.
Start checking to see if the beans are cooked about 30 minutes before the suggested cooking times has been reached. The beans should be tender to the bite but still holding their shape.
Pour into a colander and drain. Use the beans in other recipes, or refrigerate or freeze for later use.