Meze, part 3: Chickpea and Lentil Salad

I'm not sure if this has a particular middle-eastern/mediterranean name. I'm actually pretty sure it doesn't, since I came up with it on the last minute to deal with a surplus of chickpeas. But if it does, please, leave it in the comments section.

Chickpeas are my new favorite ingredient. I got hooked on them the first time I made fallafel and I've been experimenting with them as meat substitutes ever since. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fucking proud carnivore. I lead a very unhealthy and life-shortening meat-centric life style, and I take great pride in my ability to eat anything that turns its back to the sun and is dumb/slow enough to be killed. So even though this is a vegan post, do not take it as a pedantic life-style statement. I like salads, but not more than I like the immigrants that pick your organic vegetables. I'm an OMNIVORE! hear me fart!

Anyways, this salad was another course of our mediterranean inspired weekend an, as usual, an absolute hit.

Start by boiling 250g of brown (spanish pardina) lentils. Don't worry about the specific type. It only matters if you're cooking some very specific indian dal dish. Add about a liter of water and a heaping teaspoon of baking soda. This will toughen their outer layers and lenghten the cooking time, but it will also help them retain their shape in the salad and not be mashed to a baby-diarrhea-looking paste. They should cook in about 40 mins at sea level. Drain them in a colander and rinse them under cold water for a minute. This will yield a little over 3 cups. Save 2 cups for next week post and proceed.

Add them to those 6 cups of boiled chickpeas you got from making last week's hummus, along with a drained can of kalamata olives, 2 finely chopped roma tomatoes (seeded), a handful of finely chopped cilantro and parsley.

The dressing couldn't be easier: Add a cup of olive oil and 1/2 a cup of good balsamic vinegar, a large pinch of sea salt and a few rounds of black pepper. Let it sit in the fridge for about and hour to let the veggies get to know each other and get freaky. You know, even boring salads can be sexy if you put it that way.

Printer-Friendly version, for those of you compiling my brain farts:
6 cups boiled chickpeas (method in a previous post)
1 cup cooked lentils
2 large roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 large can of kalamata olives, drained and quickly rinsed
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
Cilantro, parsley, salt and pepper

1. Start by cooking the lentils over a strong simmer for 35-40 mins. Drain and rinse
2. Mix everything else in a large bowl
3. Awesomeness