Fresh, bright, and straightforward to put together, Crunchy Salad with firecracker Chickpeas and Peanut sauce is a vegan, vegetarian fusion salad made with Chopped lettuce, Grated or thinly sliced carrots, and thinly sliced red bell pepper in about 40 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 25 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes
  • Total time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Salad
  • Cuisine: fusion

Ingredients

For the Salad:

  • Chopped lettuce (or other crunchy greens)
  • Grated or thinly sliced carrots
  • thinly sliced red bell pepper
  • thinly slices zucchini or cucumber
  • chopped cilantro (or scallions for garnish)
  • peanuts for garnish (optional)
  • 1 recipe Peanut sauce
  • Or this Peanut Sauce

For the firecracker chickpeas:

  • 15 oz can chickpeas (drained (save the aquafaba for meringue) or 1.5 cups cooked)
  • 1/2 tsp oil
  • 1/4 tsp salt or to taste (depends on if chickpeas were salted)
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp cornstarch (or other starch)
  • 1 tbsp hot sauce (such as frank's hot sauce)
  • 1.5 tsp sriracha (or other asian chile garlic sauce)
  • 1.5 to 2 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 to 3 tbsp raw sugar (or brown sugar or other)
  • 2 tbsp water

Method

  1. Chop up the veggies, toss and place in serving bowl.
  2. In a skillet, add the chickpeas, oil, salt, cayenne, garlic and mix well. Cook over medium heat for a minute. Add cornstarch and mix to coat.
  3. Add the sauces, vinegar, water, sugar and mix well. Cook until the sauce thickens, stir occasionally. 4 to 5 minutes. Taste carefully and adjust heat and sweet if needed.
  4. Cool slightly, add to the salad bowl.
  5. Make the peanut sauce. Adjust consistency to preference for the dressing by adding more or less water. or add some coconut milk
  6. Drizzle the salad with peanut sauce, cilantro or scallions and serve.
  7. Alternatively, add a few tbsp more water to the firecracker chickpeas during cooking and use the firecracker sauce to dress the salad.
  8. For variation, use kale, greens, other veggies. Use lentils to make firecracker lentils.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.