Pan-fried chickpea salad

I read through hundreds of recipes a day (thank you, Google Reader!), and mark many to save for future adventures. Occasionally I get the urge to stop everything that I'm doing and make one immediately. That's what happened here... only I couldn't do it immediately. I cooked up a bunch of chickpeas last weekend, I happened to have a red onion around, I always have yogurt... what was missing? Leeks. I love leeks, so I figured that I should wait to make this until I could acquire one. After a quick trip to the store, I was ready to get cracking.

Pan-fried chickpea salad (adapted from 101 Cookbooks)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 can chickpeas (or 2 cups cooked)

1 leek, sliced thinly

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup chopped red onion

3 Tbsp plain yogurt

1 1/2 tsp curry powder

juice of 1/2 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high. Add chickpeas and cook until they begin to brown. Add leeks and continue to cook until chickpeas are golden and leeks begin to brown. Add garlic, cook for another minute. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes. Add remaining ingredients; taste and adjust as necessary. Serves 3-4.

Yummy! I had no plans for this fitting into a meal... I just wanted to satisfy my cooking urges. It's a good snack - I have to admit that I've snuck a few spoonfuls from time to time. It's unbelievably simple, and a great way to use cooked chickpeas.

Speaking of chickpeas, I often have trouble getting them tender when I cook them. This time I cooked them in the crock pot (on high for about 4 hours) while I had two other pots of beans going on the stove. I think they came out much better this way.