Recipe: Golden Chickpeas and Corn

I always (well, mostly) cook my legumes from scratch, there is just no comparison with the canned variety, which are soft and lack structural integrity in comparison.

On one particular occasion I had a big container of freshly cooked chickpeas in the fridge and was in need of a snack, for which I only ever do savoury. I fried a good handful of these chickpeas in a lot of olive oil, added walnuts and generously salted. It was SO good. So I recommend making extras of the chickpea / walnut mix here to save for a better trail mix tomorrow.

Golden Chickpeas and Corn

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 6 medium corn cobs, husks removed
• 500g yellow tomatoes, chopped into half
• 1 lime, juiced
• 3 cups cooked chickpeas (or 2 x 400g cans drained and rinsed)
• 1 cup walnuts
• Good few glugs of extra virgin olive oil
• ½ cup dill, finely chopped
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

For the Lime Cream

• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 cup full fat plain yoghurt
• 100g creamy Danish or goat feta
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Bring a medium pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add in the corn cobs and cook for 3 minutes until bright yellow. Remove with tongs, run under cold water to stop the corn cooking. Slice the kernels off with a sharp knife and put into a large mixing bowl. Add in the tomatoes, the juice from 1 lime and a good pinch of sea salt. Toss and set aside to marinate.
2. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add in a good glug of olive oil and the chickpeas. Cook, tossing for 5 minutes until they are mostly golden and crispy. Crumble in the walnuts, and continue cooking until the walnuts and chickpeas are well toasted and golden, adding olive oil as the chickpeas soak them up. Remove from the heat, add a big pinch of sea salt and toss through.
3. To make the Lime Cream, add all ingredients to a bowl and whip to combine until smooth.
4. Divide the corn and tomatoes between four bowls. Top with the golden chickpeas and walnuts, Lime Cream, dill sprigs and a pinch of salt and pepper.

No waste tip: Freeze the corn cobs in containers and add to your next chicken stock.

This recipe comes from Meg’s eBook “A Small Book of Really Good Salads” available here.

Recipe: Meg Yonson
Photography: Luisa Brimble
Styling: Olivia Blackmore

Meg is a qualified nutritionist, experienced recipe developer, creative thinker and graphic designer who works on food projects, predominantly in the health and wellness space. She's been working professionally in food for seven years creating highly-engaging, nutritious recipe content that spans across print and digital platforms.

Read more by Meg Yonson