Perfect weekday lunch: Chickpea Goji Berry Salad

It's Alive magazine's suggestion to make this salad on a lazy Sunday afternoon and bring to work for weekday lunches. A hearty salad of chickpeas, mandarin oranges, almonds, goji berries and feta cheese. I like practical tips like this - easy to follow and makes perfect sense. With the advice appealing to my sensibilities and the recipe appealing to my tastes, I fell for this salad hook, line and sinker.


It wasn't immediate though. I thought about this salad for a good two months before making it. I was 90 per cent sure it would be good, but still something held me back. The goji berries.

As healthy as this superfood is, adding them to a salad made me pause. You can buy them at any well stocked grocery store, in the bulk section. Tasty, but they're a little tough or dense to chew and could catch a person off guard, biting down on one when you're not expecting it. But, the beauty of this salad is that by letting the salad chill for an hour - or overnight - the goji berries and almonds soften slightly. Perfectly.

After making this salad three times now I'm confidently coming out to say it's a keeper. It's fresh and interesting tasting, and good. But you don't need to wait for a lazy Sunday to make it. It's a fast, easy salad to toss together which makes it perfect for weekdays when your time is tight and energy low.


Chickpea Goji Berry Salad (serves 4)
Adapted slightly from Alive Magazine

Ingredients
2/3 cup almonds, roasted and unsalted, chopped

1 - 19 oz (532 g) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 - 10 oz (280 g) can mandarin orange segments, drained

1/2 cup dried goji berries

1/2 red onion, diced 

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
 (optional)
handful of chopped cilantro or parsley
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions
Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Store in refrigerator for several hours before serving.