Sweet & Sour Chickpeas
 
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Cook time
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A warming bowl of vegetable chickpeas dotted with juicy pineapple and enveloped in a tangy sweet & sour sauce
Author:
Serves: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
  • For the Chickpea Mixture:
  • 1 large yellow onion, medium dice
  • 3 red bell peppers, medium dice
  • 500 g (about 2.5 cups) cooked chickpeas (drained and rinsed if using canned)
  • 420 g (about 2 cups) unsweetened pineapple chunks (from can or fresh)
  • 2 generous handfuls, or to taste, baby spinach
  • For garnish: sesame seeds; green onions, fresh herbs, etc. as desired.
  • For the Sweet & Sour Sauce:
  • ⅓ cup tamari or soy sauce
  • ⅓ cup reserved pineapple juice (or freshly squeezed orange/mandarin juice!)
  • ⅓ cup ketchup (I'm enjoying this discovery)
  • 1 Tbsp grated ginger (peel the fresh ginger and grate)
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
  • optional:1-2 tsp, or to taste, hot pepper sauce (I'm using Italian bomba hot pepper sauce; chili garlic sauce would also be a good choice) simply skip if you prefer no heat
  • optional: 2 tsp-1Tbsp tapioca starch (or corn starch) to thicken sauce (see blog post notes above on this).
Instructions
  1. Combine Sweet & Sour sauce ingredients in a small bowl, whisking to combine and set aside.
  2. In a roomy skillet, sauté onions in some olive oil for a couple minutes until they start to soften, then add red peppers and continue to mix.
  3. Once red peppers have deepened in color and softened somewhat, add chickpeas, gently intermingling, followed by pineapple.
  4. Give the sweet & sour sauce another thorough whisk and then drizzle over the contents of skillet. Gently mix to combine and then bring heat to a low boil until everything is heated through.
  5. Add baby spinach tossing to combine, just until it is integrated (slightly wilted) - serve over warm rice and top with desired garnish.
Recipe by Inspired Edibles at https://www.inspirededibles.ca/2021/01/sweet-sour-chickpeas.html