chickpeas

Bulgur Wheat Salad

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I love bulgur wheat and this is a very easy to make recipe. It is perfect for a picnic, lunchboxes or a side dish. You can add any fillings of your choice and change the herbs if you prefer. 40g of feta cheese is a healthy extra A choice, so bear that in mind when adding your cheese. As always, feel free to tag me in your creations. I love seeing my recipes recreated.

Serves: 4

Syns: FREE, when using cheese as part of your healthy extra A choice

Time Taken: 20 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Bulgur Wheat Salad

Bulgur Wheat Salad

 

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of bulgur wheat
  • 2 cups of boiling water
  • 1 oxo vegetable cube
  • Diced red onion
  • Diced cucumber
  • Diced pepper
  • Tin of chickpeas (drained)
  • Chilli flakes
  • Chopped fresh parsley and coriander
  • Feta cheese

Method

Put the bulgur wheat in a pan with the boiling water and crumble the oxo cube to it. Cook on a low heat, covered, until all the water has evaporated and the bulgur is cooked.

Whilst the bulgur wheat is cooking, prepare and your veg and herbs you want to add to it.

Once the bulgur is cooked, use a fork to fluff up the grains and let it cool completely before adding the veg and herbs.

Mix through some feta cheese and season to taste

Chickpea & Paneer Curry

2 Comments

Paneer is one of my favourite foods! I don’t cook it often as it is quite high in syns so making it in Ramadan is perfect for me as I don’t tend to use syns like I normally would. There just isn’t enough time to eat any snacks!

25g of paneer is 4.5 syns, I used 150g in this recipe for 3 of us but there was enough to feed 4 people. I guess we just don’t eat as much as we normally would in Ramadan! If your serving is for more or less people then adjust the syns accordingly. We had this served with a pea pilau & salad.

Chickpea & Paneer Curry

Chickpea & Paneer Curry

 

Serves: 4

Syns: 7 syns

Time Taken: 25 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

  • 150g paneer, cubed
  • 1 tin chickpeas
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tbsp ginger/garlic paste
  • 1/2 tbsp bassar (or any curry powder of your choice)
  • 2 Maggie seasoning cubes (or salt to taste)

Method

Spray a pan with low cal spray and fry the paneer till its lightly golden and set aside.

Fry the onions with the chilli flakes and cumin seeds till golden. Add water if the onions are starting to stick to the pan. Add the ginger/garlic paste, tomatoes, seasoning cubes and bassar. Cook for around 5-8 minutes (adding a bit of water if needed) till the tomatoes have soften. I then blitz this with a hand blender so that there aren’t any lumps in the sauce. You don’t have to this, it is completely optional but we prefer it this way.

Add the tinned chickpeas without draining the water, cook for a few minutes till the sauce reduces and then add the fried paneer.

Falafels

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Delicious little treats, perfect as a snack or as part of a meal.

Makes: 20

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 30 minutes, plus chilling

Difficulty: Moderate

Falafels

Falafels

ingredients

  • 2 tins chickpeas, drained
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 4 spring onions, chopped
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • handful of fresh coriander
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Low calorie cooking spray

method

Put all ingredients together in a bowl and blitz together until the mixture is a coarse paste.

Shape mixture into falafels and chill for at least 15 minutes to set their shape.

Cook them in a preheated oven, gas mark 6 for around 30 minutes turning them halfway.

Chickpea & Red Kidney Bean Curry

3 Comments

This curry is super easy to make, I always have these ingredients in my cupboard! You can use all chickpeas or use any other type of tinned pulses you enjoy. Using tinned pulses saves a lot of time in cooking.

Serves: 4

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 20-30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Curry Ingredients

Curry Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 2 medium onions, chopped
  • 1 tbsp. ginger/garlic paste
  • 1 tbsp. curry powder
  • 1 tsp black onion seeds (optional)
  • 1/2 carton passata
  • 2 Maggie seasoning cubes
  • 1 tin each of red kidney beans and chickpeas
Chickpea & Red Kidney Bean Curry

Chickpea & Red Kidney Bean Curry

 

Method

Spray a pan with fry light and cook the onions till they are golden brown (around 10 minutes). Add a little bit of hot water to the pan if needed if the onions start to stick to the bottom of the pan.

Add the ginger/garlic paste and cook for another couple of minutes before adding the passata, the curry powder, crumbled seasoning cubes and black onion seeds if using.

Let it cook for a further 5 minutes on a low heat. Then add the chickpeas and the red kidney beans and cook for 10 minutes. You can serve this with boiled rice and a speedy side salad.

 

Speedy Hummous

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Hummous is such an easy thing to make and great to have with some speedy crudités as a snack or even a light lunch with crispbreads.

Serves: 2

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 10 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Speedy Hummous

Speedy Hummous

Ingredients

  • 400g can chickpeas, drained
  • 2 garlic clove, crushed
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice, plus extra to taste
  • 2 tbsp fat free natural Greek yogurt
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

Method

Put the chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice and yogurt into a food processor and pulse until fairly smooth. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, add more lemon juice to taste and sprinkle with cayenne pepper if you want a bit of spice.

Keep in the fridge for up to 3 days and serve with your favourite crudités or crispbreads.