Legume Risoni & Chickpea Tabbouleh

This salad tastes so fresh and is packed full of flavour. It’s crunchy and juicy and a wonderful light lunch! It’s also high protein, vegan and super healthy.

I love this salad so much! As a matter of fact, I made it for lunch again today! My husband and sister went nuts for it so I think this is definitely a winner. It’s super refreshing due to all the fresh vegetables and herbs! It also has a delightful crunch which I love in a salad.

This salad is packed full of protein and will keep you full for a long time. I used risoni made from pulse flour (which in this case means lentils, chickpeas and peas) and canned chickpeas as well. Of course you can also use chickpeas which you soaked and cooked yourself but using canned chickpeas is just so much easier.

If you haven’t had pasta made from pulse flour, you should definitely give it a try. There are certain types that I like more than others but generally, it’s a great option for eating a low carb diet. I find that lentil pasta in the shape of fusilli tends to be a bit too…chewy somehow for my liking. But in particular in the small shape of risoni, it works super well. I will definitely be posting other recipes using this kind of pasta in the near future.

By the way, according to Wikipedia, risoni is also know as orzo and is a form of short-cut pasta, shaped like a large grain of rice. Orzo is traditionally made from white flour, but it can also be made of whole grain (or in my case made of pulse flour). The name orzo is common for this pasta shape in North America, but less so in Italy, where the word means barley.

As most of my recipes, this salad is also a quick and easy one. In particular, if you have leftover risoni pasta to use. But even just cooking it a little while before works. Just make sure you let it cool off completely after you cooked it! You need to cut all your lovely herbs, cucumber, celery and tomatoes and add it to your cold risoni pasta together with the chickpeas. Then you whip up your dressing and mix all together. Yumm!!

Fun story! My 5 year old came into the kitchen all excited and said the one herb smells so good! It was the dill! He was hopefull that I was making my very popular and super easy herb oven bread again (recipe to come soon!!) because it contains lots of dill and he apparently loves dill. He’s such a sweet boy.

Will you be making this recipe soon? I’m so excited if you love it as much as I do!

Or how about my Canteloupe, Feta & Mint Salad?

Print Recipe

Legume Risoni & Chickpea Tabbouleh

Author: AndreaEpstein Courses: Salads Recipe Keys: Dairy Free Gluten free High protein Low Carb Vegan V vegetarian

Servings: 2

Description

This salad tastes so fresh and is packed full of flavour. It's crunchy and juicy and a wonderful light lunch! It's also high protein, vegan and super healthy.

Ingredients

Servings

• 1 cup lentil risoni pasta
• 1 bunch of coriander
• 1 handful of parsley
• 1 handful of mint
• 1 handful of dill
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 stalk of celery
• ¹⁄₃ cucumber
• ¹⁄₂ cup chickpeas
• 1.5 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

1. Cook your legume risoni according to the instructions on the package. Let cool off completely. 

2. Finely dice your celery stalk, tomatoes and cucumber. Chop your parsley, mint, dill and coriander. Add all of the ingredients to a bowl together with your chickpeas.  

3. Mix olive oil, lemon juice, salt and lots of pepper together. 

4. Pour the dressing over the ingredients in the bowl and mix well. Enjoy!

Note

• The risoni I used are from Barilla and made from pulse flour (lentils, chickpeas and peas). If you cannot get that, feel free to use any other kind of risoni - you can find other brands that are made from lentils only.