Different types of easy and delicious pea salads can be made with green, chick or black-eyed peas. The peas may be fresh, dried, canned or frozen. In general, a pea salad made with fresh and frozen peas will be crunchier than those prepared with dried or canned varieties. Frozen peas don't need to be cooked first; rather, they can thaw in the bowl with the other ingredients and help keep everything cool, although the salads should also be kept refrigerated. All of the different pea salads are usually extremely versatile in that the ingredients can be varied or substituted and nothing really needs to be measured.
A basic green pea salad can be made by adding ingredients such as chopped cucumber, shredded coleslaw, mayonnaise, a little sweet pickle relish, pepper and some shelled sunflower seeds to frozen, uncooked, thawed or slightly thawed peas. Once this mixture is well combined and chilled for several hours in the refrigerator, it's ready to serve. One of the heartier green pea salads can be made with fresh tortellini or other stuffed pasta, Parmesan cheese, pepper and Italian salad dressing.
After cooking and cooling the fresh meat- or cheese-stuffed pasta, the Italian dressing should be tossed with it while it's still warm. When the pasta and dressing has cooled fully, the thawed, uncooked frozen peas can be added. The mixture should be left to marinate in the refrigerator for several hours before mixing in a generous amount of grated Parmesan cheese, as well as pepper to taste, before serving.
Chick peas, which are also called garbanzo beans, used in a pea salad can be delicious when other vegetables as well as nuts, cheese and dressing are added. For example, sliced celery, chopped green onion, peanuts and blue cheese dressing blended with chick peas and refrigerated before serving can serve as a basic recipe. If desired, crumbled cooked bacon or cooked shrimp could also be included in chick pea salads.
One of the most popular types of black-eyed pea salads is in Tex-Mex cuisine that originates in the American state of Texas. Cubed Monterey jack cheese, chiles, pecans, chopped onion, minced garlic, oil, vinegar and fresh raw spinach are combined to create a basic Texas black-eyed pea salad. Another popular black-eyed pea salad takes on a Greek flavor from its blend of crumbled feta cheese, lemon juice, olive oil and minced garlic. Pepper as well as balsamic vinegar could also be used.
