Simple Chickpea Salad

The week between Christmas and New Year. That strange, suspended time when the year is ending and the new one has not started and you float between them like a pastel floating in boiling water — immersed, contained, waiting to be done.

I am taking stock. 2017 was the hardest year of my life since 2003, since Hector. The hurricane. The eleven days. The fear. And then, from the wreckage, the wedding — my boy, married, happy, fed. The two things, side by side. The worst and the best. The wreckage and the wedding cake. This is what life gives you, mi amor — not one or the other but both, always both, always the joy threaded through the grief like gandules through rice, inseparable, part of the same dish.

Sofia finished her first semester of community college. She passed everything. She is on track for nursing school. My daughter, my last one, moving forward the way Delgado women move — loudly, determinedly, with snacks in her backpack and a mother who texts too often.

David went back to Brooklyn after Christmas and called to tell me the restaurant is doing well and he is thinking about his next move — maybe a new restaurant, maybe his own place someday. My son, dreaming of his own kitchen. My son, who learned to make sofrito in my kitchen and who carries that sofrito into every dish he serves in Brooklyn. The chain holds. The sofrito travels.

Mami is coming in February. Eduardo found an apartment — small, first floor, three blocks from our house. Close enough to walk. Close enough for me to bring dinner every night. Close enough for her to come to my kitchen and sit in a chair and tell me more garlic from a distance of six feet instead of fifteen hundred miles. Three blocks. That is the distance between us now. In two months, three blocks.

I made habichuelas guisadas for New Year Eve. Beans for the last meal of the year because beans are the foundation, beans are the staple, beans are what Mami fed seven children on when the money was short and the love was long. The beans simmered for three hours. Eduardo opened champagne at midnight. Sofia drank apple cider. I drank coquito because champagne is nice but coquito is home. I kissed Eduardo. I kissed Sofia. I called Mami at 12:01 AM and said, Mami, it is 2018 and you are coming home. She said, I am coming to Hartford, Carmen. Bayamon is home. Hartford is you. Both are true. Both will always be true.

Habichuelas guisadas will always be my New Year’s Eve dish—slow-simmered, serious, the kind of cooking that takes three hours and all your patience. But on the days between holidays, when the house is quiet and Sofia is studying and the leftover coquito is almost gone, I want something faster, something bright that still honors the bean. This chickpea salad is that dish—simple the way Mami taught us to eat when the money was short, nourishing the way beans have always nourished Delgado women, and ready in the time it takes Eduardo to set the table.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 15 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 cans (15 oz each) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 large English cucumber, diced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)

Instructions

Prepare the chickpeas. Drain and rinse the chickpeas thoroughly under cold water. Pat them dry with a clean towel and add them to a large mixing bowl.
Chop the vegetables. Dice the cucumber, halve the cherry tomatoes, and finely dice the red onion. Add everything to the bowl with the chickpeas along with the chopped parsley and cilantro.
Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, cumin, and smoked paprika until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Toss and season. Pour the dressing over the chickpea mixture and toss gently until everything is evenly coated. Taste and adjust the salt, pepper, and lemon juice as needed.
Serve. Transfer to a serving bowl and top with crumbled feta if desired. Serve immediately, or refrigerate for 30 minutes to let the flavors meld. The salad keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Simple Chickpea Salad — Beans for the Foundation, Beans for the New Year