Black Plum, Chickpea and Avocado Salad with Pesto Sauce

DH and I decided to skip dinner tonight. Not that we were being lazy but for the simple fact that we had a heavy lunch in the afternoon. More than usually, our weekend lunch is quite a big spread, huge enough to feel tired and sleepy after the meal! But sometimes it becomes a necessity to get a heavy meal in order to down the stress, revitalize and boost our energy quotient. All said and done, time for dinner and I wasn’t hungry at all. DH was in a mood to have something light. So I gave myself a thought to prepare a salad out of all those ingredients which were readily available in my fridge at that point.

The night before, I did soak some chickpeas. And bang on! There goes the light bulb of my brain. I had feta, olives, cucumbers and avocados in my fridge. So this was good enough to whip up a cool salad. Last time DH got some fresh Plums from the grocery store. I made up my mind to cut and throw in some fresh plums too. A jar of pesto sauce in my fridge and a bottle of pesto flavored olive oil on my kitchen counter-top were the spot-on additional ingredients that I would require.

This salad recipe is a symbol of freshness and has a unique earthy flavor.

This is by far one of my most favorite salads of all times. It is simple easy, fresh, healthy nutritious and light on your tummies! If you are thinking of what to eat to feel better, this is it! A hearty salad – it is so good that you just can’t have enough of it.

Ingredients:

Chickpeas – 1/2 cup soaked for at least 6-7 hours

Avocados – 2

Black Plums – 2

Cucumber – 1 large

Feta Cheese – 1/4 cup

Kalamata olives – 1/4 cup

Pomegranate seeds – 1/4 cup

Pesto sauce – 2 tsp

Pesto flavored olive oil – 1 tbsp

Fresh thyme and chives – finely chopped

Salt – as per taste

Method:

Boil the soaked chickpeas in a pressure cooker until soft.

Deseed the cucumber and chop it finely into small chunks.

Peel the avocados and cut them into small chunks.

Cut the plums into small chunks.

Throw in the cooked chickpeas, chopped cucumbers, plums and avocados into a mixing bowl.

Add the feta cheese, olives, finely chopped thyme and chives, pesto sauce and pesto-flavored olive oil. Give everything a good toss. Check if it needs any salt.

In the end, garnish with fresh pomegranate seeds.

Serve chilled. Enjoy !!