vegan + gf aroma jerusalem salad dupe

 

Happy Tuesday everyone!! Here in Israel, we're in the midst of our 4th Seger so I've had plenty of time to experiment with different recipes in the kitchen! Ever since I did a Whole30 last year, I've grown pretty accustomed to my daily lunchtime salad, which is a pretty easy habit to sustain living in Israel where the produce is incredible. Back when I actually used to leave my apartment and order lunch from a restaurant, Aroma was one of my favorite places to stop for a quick, fairly inexpensive lunch. For those who don't know what Aroma is, it's best compared to a healthier, Israeli Starbucks, but with more of a focus on food than coffee drinks. It's on every corner all over Israel and has one of my favorite salads, the Jerusalem salad. 

For my non-Hebrew readers, the salad typically comes with tomatoes, cucumbers, hard-boiled egg, purple onion, chickpeas, croutons, parsley, and tahini, however, I get it without the eggs and croutons because I'm vegan and gluten-free. But now, since restaurants are only open for delivery, I can't bring myself to spend $3 on delivery for a glorified Israeli salad. So I took to the kitchen and came up with my own vegan and gluten-free version, for a fraction of the price :) Score. At the risk of patting myself on the back too hard, I think it's pretty incredible and my roommates seemed to agree after it was demolished at last Friday's Shabbat dinner. 

So here's what you'll need!

For the salad:

-tomatoes

-cucumbers

-hearts of palm

-chickpeas, rinsed from a can

-red onion

-parsley

For the dressing:

-raw tahini

-lemon juice

-garlic powder 

-salt 

-pepper 

-splash of water 

Putting this salad together is fairly straightforward, I just dice the veggies and combine them with the chickpeas into a bowl. To make the tahini, I put tahini, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, and pepper into a cup and whisk with a fork. Once they come together to form a paste, I add water and mix until I get the consistency I'm looking for, (for me, that's creamy and a little watery). Sometimes, before serving I add a drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper, but you could do without. That's it, super quick, easy, and delicious (and vegan and gf)!

Enjoy! xx, lindz