Chickpea Salad in a Papad Bowl!

Chickpea Salad with veggies and fruit in a Papad Bowl

serves 4

Are you one of those people ( like me 🙂 who eagerly awaits the papad /papadum  as soon as you are seated at the Indian restaurant ?  I dive into those crunchy papads enjoying them with the sweet and sour chutney. If you are like me, you will love this chickpea salad served in a papad bowl !

These easy to make papad bowls are baked/cooked  in the microwave and not deep fried either. Plus the chickpea salad is loaded with summer’s bounty of fresh vegetables and fruit making it an even healthier option!

I made each of these papad bowls in a minute! They can also be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container or bag to keep them crunchy.

A  little about Papads and my fondness for them:)

Growing up in India, at family weddings (which are huge), we were served lunches and dinners at these super long, sit down tables. My cousin and I waited for the server that came around with the fried papad tray and shamelessly jumped up from our seats to flag him down! My fondness for papad  has grown even more when I discovered  the healthier option of ‘roasting’ them in the microwave.

Most papads are made out of lentils and they come in many flavors, spicy or plain. Some of the popular flavors are cumin, garlic ,black pepper, red or green chili and Bikaneri. I have a picture below to show the papads I used for my papad bowls because I like the black pepper flavor in the Bikaneri papad and the thinness of the Ganesh brand papad. I also like the Lijjat brand of papads. You may use whichever brand of papad you like. The  cooking time may vary a little depending on your microwave and the thickness of  papad  depending on the various brands.

So for the bowls-

• 4 papads to serve the salad, more if you are like me and eat some along the way:)

Instructions-

1. Brush the papad with water on both sides. I have to confess, I held it under running water and let the water run quickly on either side:)
2. I used Corning glass bowls that I have in my kitchen. Set the papad on  the bigger bowl and microwave for 15 seconds. This will make it pliable.

   

   

    

   

   3. Place the smaller bowl inside the bigger bowl to shape the papad and microwave for 30 seconds with the inner bowl too.

   

   This is what the papad will look like after removing the inner bowl.

   

   4. Now microwave the papad for an additional 15 seconds to make sure the bottom of papad bowl is cooked too.  This was the timing in my microwave but once you make one, you will know what time works best for your microwave and the brand of papad you use. Look at this beautiful papad bowl-

   

   5. Repeat the process for 3 more papad bowls. It took me only one minute each to make a papad bowl, much longer for the  description. But that is me 🙂 So total time to make 4 bowls is just about 4 minutes.

For the chickpeas-

• 2( 15.5 oz.) cans of chickpeas, rinsed and drained well
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• sea salt to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon chat masala (check the Basic Indian pantry on this blog)

Procedure-

1. Drain the chick peas well so oil does not splatter when you add them to the pan.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. (I used a 12 inch non stick pan). Add the drained chickpeas and stir  to coat them with the oil. Add the sea salt and stir off and on to make sure they don’t burn. I did this for about 10 minutes while I chopped the veggies and fruit for the salad. I like the crusty crunch the chick pea skins get with this process.
3. Add the chat masala, stir and remove from heat. I have an electric stove which, as you know, retains heat. So I left the pan on it as I like my chick pea skins crispy crunchy (without having to deep fry them:)
4. 

For the salad-

1.Chop into small dice/bite size-

• 1 small red onion,peeled
• 1 small plum tomato
• 1/2 Asian pear (I love the crispy crunch and flavor of the Asian pear)
• 1 small salad cucumber
• 1/2 ripe but firm mango, peeled (I chose one that is sweet with a touch of sour)
• 1 carrot.peeled
• 1 small, tender summer squash

2. Mix all together and add-

•  a handful of cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• sea salt to taste

To assemble the bowls-

1. Mix the chopped salad with the cooled chickpeas. Divide into four (approximate) parts and fill the bowls. Serve immediately. You may serve the sweet and sour tamarind chutney (optional) on the side.

Notes/Tips/Variations-

• The papad bowls are delicate and may get soggy if they are prefilled way in advance. So for a party, I would stack the bowls and keep the salad next to it with little cups of the sweet and sour tamarind chutney (store bought). The guests love to fill the salad in the papad bowls ( which also make good conversation starters;).