Mediterranean Chickpea Salad with Adobo seasoning for one or for four

With cucumbers, tomatoes and onions in full season here in New England along with some fresh parsley I received from a co-workers herb garden, I was eager to try this recipe which I had clipped from a Goya food product advertisement and which I've had in my recipe collection for longer than I can remember.

On a warm day I assembled the ingredients only to discover I didn't have any adobo seasoning. Or, at least I thought. A google search of adobo seasoning uncovered many recipes. I settled on a half-batch of an all-purpose adobo seasoning recipe I found at allrecipes.com and have included here as I had all the ingredients for the seasoning in the house.

The salad recipe below is a variation of the recipe provided by Goya as I used a yellow onion instead of red onion, regular tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes, an unseeded cucumber, no cheese and ate immediately after prepared.

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad with Adobo seasoning for one

½ cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed

½ cup cucumber, diced

1 tablespoon onion, diced

½ cup tomatoes, diced

¼ teaspoon fresh parsley chopped (optional)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ teaspoon adobo seasoning (recipe below, if needed)

In a small to medium bowl, gently stir together chickpeas, cucumbers, onion and tomatoes and parsley (optional) until combined. Set aside.

In a separate small bowl using a fork, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil and adobo seasoning to make dressing. Toss olive oil-lemon dressing with vegetables until coated completely. Serve.

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad with Adobo seasoning for four

1 ½ cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed (this is approximately one 15.5 ounce can of chickpeas)

1 1/2 cups cucumber, diced (this is about 1 cucumber, seeded)

¼ cup onion, diced

1 ½ cup tomatoes, diced (this is about ½ pint of cherry tomatoes, quartered)

½ cup mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2” cubes (this is about 4 ounces of cheese)

2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped (optional)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

¼ cup olive oil

Adobo seasoning, to taste (recipe below, if needed)

In a medium bowl, gently stir together chickpeas, cucumbers, onion and tomatoes and parsley (optional) until combined. Set aside.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil and adobo seasoning to make dressing.

Toss olive oil-lemon dressing with reserved vegetables until coated completely. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Adobo seasoning (half-batch all purpose recipe I found at allrecipes.com)

1 ½ tablespoons garlic powder

1 ¼ tablespoons table salt OR 4 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon ground oregano

¼ teaspoon groudnd turmeric

Whisk garlic powder, salt, black pepper, oregano, and turmeric together in a bowl. Store in an airtight container. 

Mediterranean Chickpea

Salad for One