Chili crisp chickpea salad
And a cautionary tale about recipe testing
Welcome to To Vegetables, With Love, a celebration of a vegetable life, less ordinary. ‘ Find archived recipes on my recipe index.
I have been deep in recipe development and testing this week. I’m in the zone, hypnotized by flavors, ingredients and the euphoria of creation.
The problem is, recipe development en masse often makes me lose my appetite.
Sometimes the cook doesn’t want to eat their own food, no matter how good it is.
I am reminded of my mother here. She was well known for this. After cooking our family dinner, almost always a Cantonese banquet comprising of tong (a broth-like soup, often with medicinal qualities), several savoury dishes and rice, she would come to the table, still in her apron, plonk herself down, and with an exhausted expression, pour her tong into her bowl of rice. That would be her dinner. Cooking dinner has made me full, she would mutter. I know exactly what she means.
Come Thursday this week, I was tired of eating but I pressed on. I woke up with a headache, and a craving for rice. As someone who usually drinks two cups of coffee for breakfast and doesn’t eat my first meal until 1pm, hunger in the morning is an anomaly. After picking up ingredients from the supermarket, I strolled up to the Japanese mart and picked up an avocado onigiri. It was 10.30am and it immediately satiated my morning craving.
The hours that followed were a cornucopia of food. I cooked and ate banchan - mushrooms, spinach, bean sprouts, and zucchini. There were soba noodles too. I then had a second craving, this time for these vegan and gluten free jackfruit ‘tenders’ which I tend to keep in my freezer nowadays, so I stuck a couple in the air fryer while I worked on another recipe. I then made a spicy tofu dish - it was absolutely DELICIOUS and I knew immediately that that dish, an upcoming one for NYT Cooking, would work its way into my personal dinner rotation. As anticipated, my kids loved it.
As I worked on more recipes, I snacked on apriums, a tiny hybrid fruit developed by cross-breeding an apricot and a plum; apricot season is my time to shine, and I will eat as many as possible. By mid-afternoon, I had an urge to try making something for fun. Chive Pancakes are my favorite starter at Thai restaurants and I’ve always wanted to try making them. When I saw garlic chives at my local supermarket this week, it was a sign. At this point, I realize I sound slightly absurd, to attempt something completely new to me, whilst in the midst of bulk recipe testing. While the chive pancakes were simple to make, they did involve a multi-step process involving cooking the rice flour with tapioca starch, followed by steaming the pancake, cooling it completely, and then pan-frying them. I ate a couple of these as they came out of the wok. So good. Adjust seasoning, more tapioca start next time. Will definitely make again.
Amidst all this, I got a text informing me that food donations would be welcome for an end of year school gathering the next day. I was also told that the cookies I had made last time (from Nicole Rucker’s book Fat & Flour) were wonderful. Ok then, 3 dozen cookies coming right up. I ate one when they were still warm, just to test it. It was good, and I needed no more.
That night, while my family feasted on spicy tofu, Thai chive pancakes and dumplings (from the freezer), I snacked on Doritos.
This week’s recipe, a chickpea and chili crisp salad, is one I developed earlier this week, when I still had my appetite. I ate this for dinner, with falafels on the side, and homemade whipped hummus. The chili crisp is surprising, because it’s not expected next to the mint and parsley, nor is it often paired with chickpeas, but that’s what I love about it – it’s giving new life to a classic dish. It travels well too, so this is a good salad to take to gatherings, potlucks or picnics.
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Monday: I’m always ready to extoll the virtues of black bean sauce. Here’s a new recipe for asparagus and tofu with black bean sauce. So umami.
Tuesday: Here’s a one pot spinach, feta and dill pasta inspired by Spanakopita pie.
Wednesday: This Yuzu-miso soba noodle soup takes almost zero thought. Use lemons if you can’t find yuzu, add dumplings/wontons if you are feeling fun.
Thursday: This French onion white bean soup is peak satisfying (especially for cold Aussie nights)
Friday: It’s Friday night, make it easy with this broken egg salad, on toast.
Chili crisp chickpea salad
© Hetty Lui McKinnon for To Vegetables, With Love.
The chili crisp you use will really affect the flavour of this salad, so use one that you love. Lately I’ve been enjoying this one from Homiah - the vegan one has seaweed in it so it’s super umami without being overly spicy, which suits the range of palates in my house.
White beans like cannellini or butter beans would work here too!
Serves 4
vegan and gluten free
1/2 small red onion, diced
1 garlic clove, grated
1 tablespoon black or rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons chili crisp, or more to taste
2 Persian/Lebanese cucumbers (about 250g), trimmed, quartered lengthwise and sliced
handful chopped mint
handful chopped parsley
2 cans chickpeas, drained (about 500g, drained weight)
salt and pepper
In a large bowl, add the red onion, garlic, black or rice vinegar, sesame oil and chili crisp. Toss to combine. Next add the cucumber, chickpeas, mint, and parsley and toss to combine.
Season with salt and pepper, and serve.
I feel like we need someone to illustrate everything you mentioned you ate in this entry hahaha I’m like I want all of it!! Especially the chive pancakes!
My garden is overflowing with cucumbers, so bring on all the cuke recipes! Definitely making this one soon!