We hardly dare say it, but this salad with palm cabbage has so much texture that Berloumi becomes superfluous.

The hard palm cabbage is fried here to tough, almost fleshy and sometimes crispy pieces. The fried chickpeas with their nutty flavour, dry outside and creamy inside provide even more texture. This recipe is for four people. You can eat it both hot and cold (not ice cold).

Crispy fried palm cabbage.

Remove about 400 g of palm cabbage from the stems. Wash the leaves and dry them very well in the salad wracker. Cut the palm cabbage into irregular strips. Fry the palm cabbage in 5 cl olive oil. Keep stirring and frying until the cabbage turns dark and starts to make a crackling sound. The baking may take fifteen minutes or more.If you don’t wash the palm cabbage you can bake them much easier. Don’t be afraid if the cooking starts to turn very dark during baking. The palm cabbage can be replaced by curly cabbage or kale. However, they will bake a little less crispy. In a raw preparation you might consider not frying. In that case, chop them very finely and massage them hard with olive oil. The oil will penetrate the waxy cabbage leaves and soften them.

Fried chickpeas.

Rinse 600 g canned chickpeas (two cans) under running water and drain very well. Put the chickpeas in a bowl or baking tray and dry them thoroughly with kitchen paper. Add 3 cl olive oil, half a teaspoon of cumin powder and half a teaspoon of paprika powder a pinch of salt and mix well. Bake the chickpeas on a baking tray in an oven at 150 °C for about 40 minutes. The chickpeas will have shrunk by almost half.

You can fry the chickpeas until they are completely crunchy, then they form a tasty and healthy snack on their own. It takes a bit of timing but we prefer a crispy outside while they are still soft and moist inside. Cover the baking tray with baking paper to make cleaning easier.

Vinaigrette and composition.

Toast 70 g of pine nuts in a dry pan. In a mixing bowl that is large enough to contain everything, combine the following ingredients: 1 small grated garlic clove, 6 finely chopped dried tomatoes, 1 teaspoon mustard, a dash of tabasco, 2 finely chopped spring onions, 2 cl sherry or red wine vinegar, 2 cl lemon juice, half a teaspoon lemon zests. Mix well and add another 3 cl of olive oil.

Add the fried palm cabbage and chickpeas, together with about 20 g of coarsely chopped herbs such as coriander, flat parsley and mint.

Keep a close eye on the pine nuts because they burn faster than you think. We strongly advise against it, but in the vinaigrette you can probably leave something out if not in stock. As for the coarsely chopped herbs, we are fans of lots of fresh herbs, but feel free to adjust this to your own preference.

Send us your own version via social media and we might just come and prepare this dish at the party of your choice.

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