Following on from yesterday’s review of Weight Watchers’ Seriously Satisfying, here is a dish for harissa chickpeas from the book.
Although I naturally took some interest in the puddings, it’s actually a spicy salad dish which I’m sharing.
Harissa Chickpeas appealed to me as it was more “worldly” than recipes I’ve usually seen in Weight Watchers’ books. There were several stand out dishes in this title with an international flavour.
Harissa is a north African paste made from chilli, tomato and paprika, you often find it in the world foods aisles of supermarkets. This makes a simple lunch that could be served warm or cold. You can order it from Amazon (affiliate link) without it being a grocery order, if your local supermarket doesn’t have it.
This dish took less than 15 minutes to make and in larger quantities it would be suitable for parties.
Adapting the harissa chickpeas recipe
I made a couple of changes to the printed recipe; I had half a tin of butter beans sitting in the fridge so did a mix of these with chick peas and I used oh so naughty 2% fat Greek yogurt instead of 0% as stated. But you won’t tell anyone will you?
If making again I would add maybe some tumeric and cumin to give more depth – although possibly another brand of harissa might have been more rounded.
I used 1 teaspoon less than stated here but still found it very firey – this warning comes from someone who likes hot stuff!
So share with me folks – do you like hot stuff?
Harissa Chick Pea Salad
Ingredients
- 1 sprays cooking spray low fat
- 1 red onion sliced thinly
- 1 courgette diced
- 50 g harissa
- 400 g chickpeas canned, drained (or butterbeans, or a mix)
- 4 tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt
Serve With:
- 8 leaves lettuce little gem
- 6 radish quartered
- 1 cucumber small, peeled into ribbons
Instructions
- Spray a non stick frying pan with the cooking spray and heat until hot.
- Add the onion and courgette and cook for 5 minutes until softened. You may need to add a splash of water if they start to stick.
- Add the harissa and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Stir in the chickpeas and yogurt.
- Serve the chick pea mixture with the little gem or lettuce salad leaves, radishes and cucumber on the side.
Notes
Reproduced with permission from Seriously Satisfying by Weight Watchers. Published in paperback by Simon & Schuster, available in Weight Watchers meetings. You can also get it from Amazon.
More recipes where you can use harissa
Chances are you don’t use harissa that much. I have numerous other recipes in which you might add a dollop to enhance the spicy kick:
Moroccan Meatball tagine – this a tomato based spicy stew
Turkey thigh tagine – similar to above, but with low fat turkey meat
Spicy chickpea soup – this is a soupy version of the tagine stews and vegetarian too.
On top of hummus and dips – white bean cannellini hummus – instead of the pesto
Cannellini bean and butternut dip
Looks a lovely dish Sarah – I imagine you could use any beans in it.
I would add spinach to the salad too. 4 tsp is a lot of harissa.
Somewhere on my blog is a recipe for a spicy lentil salad using harissa. delicious.
Looks Yummy! I started weight watchers last week so I will be trying this!
I don’t usually buy the weight watchers stuff in the supermarkets as I don’t think it’s ‘real food’ (I know, I’m terrible :S) but this looks pretty real, and pretty yummy too!
Ooh! This recipe is SO me, and I’ve got all the ingredients at home already! Score! I know what my lunch will be on Thursday… thanks!
We can’t survive without harissa in our household! I always have a jar of Rose Harissa in the fridge, it is just fab.
I’m going to try these chick peas tomorrow! Thanks Sarah, regards Jude x
I’ve put this in my recipe notebook…. One to try in the near future.