Chickpea and tempeh salad with avocado

Appetizer or side-dish for 4

Level:  Easy-intermediate **

½ can or 200 g chickpeas
20 ml bulgur or quinoa (gluten-free)
20 ml sesame
20 ml water
120 g spinach
20 ml olive oil
20 ml cooking oil
¼ lime
40 ml soy sauce
handful basil
6 cherry tomatoes
10 ml palm sugar
100 grams tempeh
1 avocado

Tools:  Frying pan or wok, small pot

 

1.    Boil bulgur in about twice as much water as grains until the water has immersed and bulgur is soft.  Add olive oil and stir.
2.    Remove from pan and leave to cool.
3.    Cut tempeh into small strips and fry in cooking oil with a dash of soy sauce until brown.
4.    Remove from pan and leave to cool.
5.    Mix sesame seeds, water, olive oil, soy sauce and sugar.  Squeeze the juice from the lime and stir together until the sugar is dissolved to make the salad dressing.
6.    When bulgur and tempeh are cool, add to spinach, basil, tomatoes and chickpeas.
7.    Chop the avocado into cubes and add to salad before serving with salad dressing.

About the ingredients:

Soy sauce:  Although the function of soy sauce is to add some salt to a dish, don’t replace it with salt!  Soy sauce also adds a fullness of flavour to the dish that, in the end, makes you require less salt.  It's the famed ‘umami’ flavour that can also be found in other ingredients such as tomatoes, tamarind, and, more notoriously, monosodium glutamate.

Any aficionado of Asian cooking will tell you that it’s not all the same to use a Thai, Indonesian, Japanese or Chinese soy sauce.  Regardless of what country a soy sauce comes from, the preparation of it is slightly different, and the amount of salt and sugar vary.  My recipes require Thai soy sauce, unless otherwise specified.  Using a different soy sauce will result in dishes that are not balanced with other ingredients in the recipe, too salty, or too sweet.  If you are not located in Asia, most Asian groceries stock Thai soy sauce in both large and small bottles.  Look out for the 'fat baby' brand (both plain or mushroom flavoured are fine)

Bulgur:  If you've eaten Mediterranean food, you'll probably be familiar with this ingredient.  In Turkey, it's used in salads such as tabouleh and kisir.  It's a very healthy wholegrain, usually made from durum wheat.  It's normally available from any well-stocked supermarket, but if not, try a Mediterranean store or an Indian store (under the name of daliya).

Tempeh:  Used most often in Indonesian cooking, it's a sort of 'wholebean' tofu with a firmer texture and stronger flavour.  It's usually available at larger Asian stores, and sometimes at health food stores.

Palm sugar:  Commonly used in South and Southeast Asian cooking, any Asian grocery, and some large supermarkets stock it.  It has a stronger, mustier flavour than cane sugar, and a higher nutritional value.

Basil:  In this particular recipe, I've used 'Italian' basil, but one can use sweet basil, also known as Thai basil for a stronger flavour.  It's a good source of vitamin K, and, like other leafy greens, iron, manganese and magnesium.