Chickpea Salad

I like this salad because it's very cheap, quick, easy, and keeps well (for a few days). It's inspired by my friend's Armenian 'salat', a chickpea and parmesan recipe on Orangette's blog, and the Lebanese salad recipe in The Healthy Kitchen (2003).

Ingredients
1 16-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 small tomato, seeded and diced
1/2 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
1/2 yellow or red bell pepper, diced
1/4 c. high-quality grated parmesan
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Handful fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Directions
Combine all ingredients in medium mixing bowl, and let sit for 30 minutes or so. Enjoy!

Alternatives

• You can also use more tomato, cucumber, and pepper: 2 small tomatoes (or 1 large) and the entire cuke and pepper. You may need more olive oil and lemon juice.
• Instead of parmesan, use crumbled/diced feta or goat cheese.
• You can also omit the cheese for a vegan salad, but cured kalamata olives might be a nice replacement. In fact, maybe just include kalamata olives anyway!

Jessica