Cottage Cheese Chickpea Salad with Dill and Lemon

Full-fat cottage cheese is the kind I use in this chickpea salad recipe. I add lemon juice and Dijon mustard to cottage cheese to make a creamy dressing. Partially mashed chickpeas provide substance that makes the salad easy to scoop. Other ingredients include whole chickpeas and celery, red onion, and dill (I like the uneven beans here).

Rinse and drain the chickpeas well before adding them to the salad to avoid excess chickpea moisture. I like to mash about half of the chickpeas with a fork. Using a combination of whole and mashed chickpeas adds a spreadable base and texture to the salad. Other kitchen tools, like a potato masher, can be used to mash chickpeas, but I prefer using a fork because it leaves more uneven pieces.

I put the dressing in a small bowl and process it in a food processor or with an immersion blender for a very well-whipped dressing, though you could also stir the dressing. A very well-whipped dressing coats the chickpeas more thoroughly, like a mayonnaise-based dressing would. Before mixing, the dressing may look thick, but this is fine after mixing.

Cover and chill the salad for at least 30 minutes. Use the salad for a lunch meal or snack with crackers or pita chips and vegetable sticks. I like the cold dressing and whole chickpeas, by the way. This recipe takes 15 minutes of preparation time.