2005: Who else has been tripping over recipes raving about chipotle peppers in adobo sauce? Me too. This particular recipe may have been published more than three years ago but chipotle peppers seem to be trendy right now. Last week I found a small can in my everyday supermarket and snatched it up. I should have bought more!

This make-ahead salad feels both familiar and surprising. The dense creaminess of the chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) contrasts with the bright coolness of the tomatoes and cucumber which in turn are deepened by the dark, smoky chipotle pepper. What IS that undertone, you'll wonder.

Very yummy ... and very open to variation, what's on hand, what inspires. Consider sun-dried tomato, mango, pineapple or avocado.

[8/6/05 e-mail from an adventurous cook: "Couldn’t find the chipotle with adobo sauce. However, I DID use your recipe as an outline for a really wonderful salad. Instead of the adobo, I used chipotle salsa. Also added a can of black beans (rinsed); added about half a chopped cucumber and a small red bell pepper. Also used a little can of mild chopped peppers from the Mexican food section. And I did use the Caesar ranch dressing. It was probably the best salad I have ever made!" And then later: "Finished the leftovers today. But made additions. All good. Cut leftover steamed broccoli from Friday night into bite sized chunks. Added another tomato that demanded it be used TODAY. Wonderful!"]

Update July 2006: This is a great summer salad -- and a true "concept recipe", one begging for variation and creativity. The key sauce ingredients are mayonnaise, lime and chipotle. The key salad ingredients are some sort of bean, onion and cilantro. This version was made with black beans instead of chickpeas. I also bulked it up with corn for color contrast and bell peppers for crunch. Even with more bulk, 1 tablespoon of chipotle, with NO adobo sauce, created plenty of heat. This got rave reviews from adults and kids alike.

CHIPOTLE CHICKPEA SALAD
Active time: 20 minutes
Time to table: 20 minutes
Makes 5 cups

1/3 cup low-fat mayonnaise (my favorite is Hellman's Light)
Zest and juice from a lime (about 2 tablespoons juice)
1/2 teaspoon cumin (key ingredient, try not to skip)
1 tablespoon minced chipotle chilies (from a can of 'chipotle peppers in adobo sauce', I would have used 2-3x more but the can contained only one so I added some of the adobo sauce, as specified below --> later note: 1 tablespoon was more than enough for even a bulked-up version, so you'll want to do this to taste)

2 15-ounce cans garbanzo beans (or black beans or really any kind of beans), drained (and rinsed if gunk/starchy as some are)
1 medium tomato, chopped (if I'd had more tomatoes, I'd have added two or even three more)
1/3 cup red onion, chopped (from 1/2 a small red onion -- again, more would be good)
1 cup chopped cilantro
2 - 3 tablespoons adobo sauce, or to taste (from the chipotle can)
Salt & pepper to taste

Optional Additions
Frozen or canned corn
Bell peppers

Mix mayonnaise, zest, lime juice and cumin in a large bowl. Scrape the seeds from chilies and discard (the real heat resides in chili membrane and then seeds, not chili flesh). Mince the chilies, add to bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and stir together. Taste and add adobo sauce and salt and pepper to taste.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Half Cup: 130 Cal (23% from Fat, 13% from Protein, 63% from Carb); 4 g Protein; 3 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 21 g Carb; 4 g Fiber; 33 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 314 mg Sodium; 3 mg Cholesterol, Weight Watchers 2 points

SOURCE
Bon Appetit, January 2002