Samosa Summer Salad

Summer is here, bring on the salads! Lately, my go-to lunch during the work week has been something I’ve cooked on the weekend on top of a bed of greens. Having a bunch of fresh greens on hand helps stretch my meals and although I admit the combinations can get pretty weird and random, I never get sick of eating salads. I remember when my sister and I were kids we would beg my mom to buy salad dressing at the store. Buying a $4 bottle of vegetable oil, vinegar, thickeners and preservatives wasn’t her thing so she usually made her own. At the time I didn’t appreciate it, but now I can’t remember the last time I bought salad dressing from the store. It’s so easy, fresh and fun to make your own and and you can easily customize and complement your dressing to your dish. Plus, it just tastes amazing! I got this salad idea from one of my random lunches. I had one little store-bought, vegetarian samosa on top of a big pile of greens. I wanted more samosa flavor (without the fried pocket part) and a cilantro dressing to top it all off. I’m a big cilantro fan, I could eat it as a salad by itself! This salad is so packed with flavor you won’t even notice it’s vegan. The chickpeas are seasoned and baked for a crispy crunch. If you haven’t tried baked chickpeas yet, you should! They are easy to make and fun to eat. The carrots and potatoes are tossed in curry, then roasted – they’re so sweet and flavorful this time of year. Oh and I could go on and on about this lemony-garlic-curry-cilantro-with-a-touch-of-mint-dressing, but that’s me, the cilantro lover talking.