Chef Zohra
Bakoula (بقولة)
Mallow greens cooked soft and dark with garlic, cumin, preserved lemon, and olives, the Moroccan cooked salad that tastes of spring rain and a loaf of khobz shared warm.
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Salade de Pois Chiches à la Chermoula
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Soft chickpeas dressed warm in chermoula, with cumin, preserved lemon, tomato, onion, and herbs. It sits among the salataat, ready for khobz, ready for one more hand at the table.
Salads
Moroccan
Budget Friendly
Potluck
Make Ahead
20 min
Active Time
1 hr 15 min cook•10 hr 5 min total
Yield6 servings
The chickpeas have to be warm when they meet the chermoula. Not hot enough to bruise the herbs, not cold from the fridge, just warm and soft, so the garlic, cumin, preserved lemon, tomato, and olive oil can enter instead of sliding off the skins. That little timing is the dish.
This is one of the plates in a Moroccan salataat spread, the small salads set out before a tagine or beside grilled fish, each one asking for bread and fingers. It is budget food only if you think welcome has to be expensive. I don't. A bowl of chickpeas can stretch a table without making anyone feel counted.
Cook the chickpeas until they crush easily between finger and thumb. Canned ones can serve when the day is short, but wake them in warm salted water first. Chop the herbs at the end, taste for salt, acid, and cumin, and remember: la balance est dans les yeux, the scale is in the eyes.
Make it ahead and let it rest. By the time people arrive, the oil will shine on the chickpeas, the tomato will have softened into the dressing, and the bowl will be ready for khobz. This is la cuisine du lien, the cooking of connection, in its most practical clothes.
Chickpeas have been part of North African food since antiquity, moving through Mediterranean agriculture long before the Arab dynasties and becoming common in Andalusi-Maghribi kitchens of the medieval period. Chermoula, the herb, garlic, cumin, oil, and acid dressing used across Morocco, is older in its green spice grammar than its tomato and paprika notes; those arrived after the 16th-century Atlantic exchanges brought New World plants into Moroccan markets. A chickpea chermoula salad is difficult to date as a named dish, because it lives mostly in household salataat, from coastal tables to inland cities, rather than in courtly recipes.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried chickpeas
Quantity
250g
soaked overnight
baking soda (optional)
Quantity
1/2 tsp
for soaking older chickpeas
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 tsp, plus more to taste
ripe tomatoes or tomato paste
Quantity
2 medium or 1 tbsp
tomatoes seeded and finely diced; use tomato paste in winter
red or white onion
Quantity
1 small
finely diced, rinsed, and drained if sharp
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
pounded or finely grated
preserved lemon
Quantity
1/2
pulp discarded, peel finely chopped, a few slivers reserved for serving
fresh coriander
Quantity
1 small bunch
finely chopped
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
1 small bunch
finely chopped
cumin seeds
Quantity
2 tsp
toasted and ground, or 1 1/2 tsp good ground cumin
sweet paprika
Quantity
1 tsp
hot paprika or cayenne (optional)
Quantity
1/4 tsp
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
5 tbsp
preserved lemon brine or mild vinegar
Quantity
2 tbsp
chickpea cooking liquid
Quantity
2 to 4 tbsp
as needed
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried chickpeassoaked overnight | 250g |
| baking soda (optional)for soaking older chickpeas | 1/2 tsp |
| fine sea salt | 1 tsp, plus more to taste |
| ripe tomatoes or tomato pastetomatoes seeded and finely diced; use tomato paste in winter | 2 medium or 1 tbsp |
| red or white onionfinely diced, rinsed, and drained if sharp | 1 small |
| garlic clovespounded or finely grated | 2 |
| preserved lemonpulp discarded, peel finely chopped, a few slivers reserved for serving | 1/2 |
| fresh corianderfinely chopped | 1 small bunch |
| flat-leaf parsleyfinely chopped | 1 small bunch |
| cumin seedstoasted and ground, or 1 1/2 tsp good ground cumin | 2 tsp |
| sweet paprika | 1 tsp |
| hot paprika or cayenne (optional) | 1/4 tsp |
| extra virgin olive oil | 5 tbsp |
| preserved lemon brine or mild vinegar | 2 tbsp |
| chickpea cooking liquidas needed | 2 to 4 tbsp |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 2 to 3 liter saucepan for simmering chickpeas
- •Mortar and pestle for pounding garlic and cumin
- •Wide shallow serving platter or beldi bowl
Instructions
- 1
Soak the chickpeas
The night before, rinse the chickpeas and cover them with plenty of cold water, at least three fingers above the beans. Add the baking soda if the chickpeas are old or very dry. In the morning, drain and rinse them well so no soda taste follows you into the pot.
If you forgot to soak them, use canned chickpeas, but don't serve them straight from the tin. Warm them first, or the chermoula will sit on the outside. - 2
Simmer until soft
Put the soaked chickpeas in a heavy saucepan and cover with fresh water by about 5 cm. Bring to a boil, skim the foam, then lower to a steady simmer. Cook 60 to 75 minutes, adding the salt once they begin to soften, until a chickpea crushes easily between finger and thumb but still keeps its shape. Save a small cup of the cooking liquid, then drain.
For canned chickpeas, drain and rinse 2 cans, then simmer them 10 minutes in lightly salted water. That little warmth gives the dressing somewhere to go. - 3
Pound the chermoula
In a mortar, pound the garlic with a pinch of salt until it turns creamy. Stir in the cumin, paprika, hot paprika if using, preserved lemon peel, preserved lemon brine or vinegar, and olive oil. If it looks tight, loosen it with a spoonful or two of warm chickpea cooking liquid. The dressing should smell green, sharp, and round with cumin.
- 4
Dress them warm
While the chickpeas are still warm, fold them with the chermoula in a wide bowl. This is the one rule that decides the salad: a warm chickpea drinks the oil, acid, and spice; a cold one only wears them. Add the diced tomato, or the tomato paste loosened with a little cooking liquid, then fold in the onion.
- 5
Add the herbs
Add most of the coriander and parsley, keeping a small handful for the top. Taste with bread, not a bare spoon, because this salad is eaten with khobz. Adjust with salt, cumin, olive oil, or a little more preserved lemon brine until the chickpeas taste awake but not sour.
- 6
Rest and serve
Let the salad rest at least 30 minutes, or chill it overnight and bring it back to room temperature before serving. Spoon it onto a shallow platter, gloss it with a final thread of olive oil, and scatter over the reserved herbs and preserved lemon slivers. Put bread nearby and let the table do the rest.
Chef Tips
- •Dress the chickpeas warm. Cold chickpeas refuse the sauce; warm ones drink it. That is the small rule that decides this salad.
- •Toast cumin seeds and grind them while fragrant if you can. Cumin is the backbone here, and old dusty cumin makes a quiet salad when you want a generous one.
- •Tomatoes belong when they are red, heavy, and in season. In winter, use a spoon of tomato paste loosened with chickpea cooking water instead of a tired tomato.
- •Chermoula is not one fixed paste across des cuisines marocaines. Coastal cooks lean on it for fish, home cooks carry it to carrots, potatoes, beans, and chickpeas.
- •Don't drown the salad in acid. Preserved lemon brings salt, perfume, and bite at once, so taste before adding more brine.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the chickpeas the night before, or cook them up to 2 days ahead and keep them in their cooking liquid in the refrigerator.
- •The finished salad keeps well for 3 days, covered and chilled. Bring it to room temperature and refresh with olive oil, herbs, and a little preserved lemon brine before serving.
- •For a potluck, dress it the morning of the meal. Add the last handful of herbs just before the bowl goes to the table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 185g)
Calories
285 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
12 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
740 mg
Total Carbohydrates
31 g
Dietary Fiber
9 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
10 g
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