Vegan Sweet And Sour Chickpeas
Skip the Chinese takeout and make your own vegan sweet and sour chickpeas instead ! It is rich, flavorful yet healthy at the same time.
Servings: 2 servings
Calories: 345kcal
Ingredients
For the sauce
- ½ cup water
- 1 medjool dates *
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- 3 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 ½ tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
Veggies and chickpeas
- 1 15 oz can chickpeas rinsed and drained ( or 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas )
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 medium red onion diced
- 1 medium red pepper diced
- 1 medium green pepper diced
- ½ cup pineapple cubes
Instructions
- Make the sauce by placing all ingredients needed into a blender and blend until smooth.
- Heat ½-1 tablespoon of neutral oil in a non-stick pan / well seasoned cast iron skillet on medium high heat. Add in onion and saute until translucent, about 3-4 minutes.
- Next, stir in garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add in the red pepper, green pepper and pineapple cubes now and cook until they have softened for 4-5 minutes, stirring every so often.
- Stir in chickpeas along with the sauce and bring everything to a gentle simmer. Cook until sauce has reached desired thickness. Give it a taste and add more soy sauce, if needed.
- Serve it on some freshly cooked white or brown rice, and enjoy !
Notes
Dates can be substituted with 2-3 tablespoon sweetener of choice like maple syrup , coconut sugar or sugar substitutes.
To make it oil-free, use ¼ cup of vegetable broth or water to saute the veggies instead of oil.
Make it gluten-free by using gluten-free soy sauce or tamari.
You can either use canned chickpeas or chickpeas cooked from scratch. Both salted or unsalted ones can be used.
Not a fan of chickpeas ? Swap it with some pan-fried extra-firm tofu cubes, tempeh or even slices of seitan.
Feel free to swap the veggies used in this recipe for any veggies you have on hand. I recommend sticking with crunchy vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, green peas or carrots.
If you like your sweet and sour chickpeas to be extra saucy, simply double the sauce and you will have enough to drizzle a generous amount on your rice !
You can certainly make the sweet and sour sauce without blender, but it is highly recommended to use liquid sweetener like maple syrup to ensure even distribution.
Leftovers can be refrigerated for 3-4 days in a sealed container.
Nutrition
Calories: 345kcal | Carbohydrates: 67g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 963mg | Potassium: 1081mg | Fiber: 15g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 2525IU | Vitamin C: 155mg | Calcium: 115mg | Iron: 5mg
