Black Lentil & Chickpea Salad With Mint Lemon Dressing

Lentils like other beans are legumes but compared to other types of dried beans, lentils are relatively quick and easy to prepare. Lentils are great in salads as they readily absorb a variety of wonderful flavors from other foods and seasonings, are high in nutritional value, inexpensive, and are available throughout the year. I recently came across black lentils, often called beluga lentils as they resemble caviar and thought they would be delicious as well as pretty in a lentil salad. We love salads like this as I can make a big batch and keep it in the refrigerator to enjoy for lunches at home, pack in coolers to take with us to the beach, or enjoy as a side dish with grilled chicken or seafood for dinner.

You can play around with the ingredients as you choose, just use your imagination and try to keep the ingredients complementary in flavor. I like to balance my salad ingredients to add color and a diversity of textures, but I often change the ingredients as my mood changes, or depending on what I have on hand in my refrigerator. If black lentils are not available, choose the small green or beige lentils as they remain firm when cooked. I’d suggest avoiding the large red lentils which I find can easily get mushy when cooked.

• Lentils are a great source of fat-free protein, and are rich in folate, B vitamins, fiber, and iron.
• Tomatoes are a source of vitamin A, vitamin C, dietary fiber and a great source of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant.
• Chickpeas are a fat free source of protein, are high in fiber & B vitamins.