Sprouted Garbanzo Bean Salad

Well, I can't take all the credit for this because my lovely Israeli chef friend Carmit visited me and helped me with a tasting at Pure Yoga West and we came up with a take on this dish. I added a little kick to it for a Tasting Benefit I did for the Cooke Center in NYC http://www.cookecenter.org/

This salad is as Carmit says "Super Food-Super Engery filled" It's sprouted beans tossed with parsley, cilantro and mint over a bed of perfectly ripened tomatoes, and dressed with a tahini sauce.

You can buy a medley of sprouted beans or make them yourself. If you are buying them at a store (and most health food stores sell them), place them in warm water because they tend to be a little starchy. I toss the beans with loads of minced cilantro, parsley and mint, a generous amount of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Lemon.

The tomatoes must be delicious and not mealy at all - dice them up, toss them with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, sea salt and pepper and their organic flavors alone should burst in your mouth.

The Tahini Sauce brings everything together. Buy a good tahini : Al Wadi is easy to find and the best in the U.S., I think. Mix the Tahini with EVOO, garlic, lemon, and a lot of parsley - add a generous amount of sea salt and thin it out with H20. Overnight your tahini will become much thicker. This is a healthy and delicious option to use on sandwiches instead of Mayo or Mustard, on salads (www.ellapoe.com LOVED this) or as a dip. You can control it's thickness by adding water (or stock)!

This is a picture from the Cooke School event and it was a huge hit! Loads of people were excited to have a heathly nad delicious taste. My favorite comment was, "but this is so delicious and it's healthy!"

Just remember to taste as you're cooking... it's hard to screw up a recipe with all these fresh ingredients! And don't forget generous amounts of sea salt!