I must admit, I bought these because they looked cool - and I'm so glad I discovered them!

A Note on Black Garbanzos

These are noticeably firmer than regular chickpeas, which makes them hold up beautifully in a marinated, cold prep like this. I've still got a good amount of unmarinated black garbanzos left, so a second cold salad is likely - and I might finally work up the nerve to try fritters with them too.

How I Cooked the Beans

Ingredients:

Black garbanzo beans

Water

Mixteca salt

Minced garlic

Avocado oil

1 lemon, halved and seeded

Kosher flake salt

Cooking the Beans:

I only soaked the beans overnight, but the package really wants a full 24 hours - skipping that added extra time to the cook, so next batch I'm planning ahead properly.

Cook the soaked beans in water with the mixteca salt, minced garlic, avocado oil, and the halved, seeded lemon, until desired texture.

About halfway through cooking, add some kosher flake salt.

Once tender, strain, rinse, and let the beans cool completely.

MBGC Salad Ingredients

Chilled, cooked black garbanzo beans

2 seedless cucumbers

3 green onions

Cherry tomatoes

Crumbled feta

Juice of 1 lemon

Garlic oil

Garlic salt

Chardonnay vinegar

The Closest to Instructions That You're Going to Get:

Chop up the cucumbers, green onions, and cherry tomatoes, and fold them into the cooled beans.

Stir in the crumbled feta, lemon juice, garlic oil, and garlic salt.

Taste for acid - mine still needed a lift, and I was out of lemons, so I splashed in some chardonnay vinegar to balance it out.

Chill before serving.

What We're Eating It With

Night one, we ate this on its own alongside Carolina Gold rice and pork tenderloin - Matt-approved. For the next couple of lunches, I'm planning to spoon it over cold einkorn with pea tendrils for some extra protein and greens.