Recipe: Sweet & Spicy Glazed Chickpeas {Asian Inspired, Vegan & GF}

Summary: This is so amazingly delicious and wonderful! Since Mr Ask went vego he has been missing his fave Chinese takeout dishes. I have never been much of fan of Chinese because the vego options available locally are honestly pretty crappy (as Mr Ask discovered). I’m pretty sure this is a long way from actual Chinese but it has been the perfect answer to Mr Asks cravings and I am really, really into it. So into it I made a double batch of sauce to give to my Mum and Sister who are now really into it too!

I beg you not to be put off by the long ingredients list, they are all things you will have around if you cook Asian dishes. A good prepping order keeps this from being a stressful race against the clock and the sauce can absolutely be made ahead of time for a speedy weeknight dinner. I think the chickpeas are a beautiful marriage but this is lovely over steamed veggies too. Once you’ve made the sauce you just need some 90 second rice, a few veggies and a couple of cans of chickpeas. Dinner is done!

Ingredients 

• 3/4 cup chicken style vegan stock
• 1 tblsp tomato sauce/ketchup
• 3 tblsp soy sauce (GF or Tamari, if needed)
• 2 tblp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tblsp sriracha
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 tblsp corn flour (GF, if needed)
• 1 tsp canola oil
• 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 3 spring onions sliced, plus extra for garnish
• 2 (400g) chickpeas, drained & rinsed
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds, to garnish

Instructions 

1. Measure out the liquids into a 2 cup capacity measuring jug. Add the chicken style stock, tomato sauce/ketchup, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sriracha and sesame oil. No need to stir, just set aside for now.

2. Measure out the sugar and again, set aside for now.

3. In a small bowl or jug, whisk together the corn flour and water until very smooth and lump free. Set aside for now.

4. Add the canola oil in a saucepan and put it over medium heat. Once it’s nice and hot, add the garlic and ginger and stir around until very fragrant. About, 30 seconds to 1 minute.

5. Now add in the liquid ingredients from step 1 and the sugar from step 2. Whisk together, until very well combined and bring it up to the boil while whisking intermittently.
6. Pour the cornflour mix from step 3 into the saucepan, whisk well and allow to boil for a few minutes until nice and thick. You can give it a taste at this point and up the spicy factor if you fancy it.

7. Once the sauce has thickened, you can either turn off the heat and store in the fridge until later or continue on to the next step. To reheat either add back to a saucepan or microwave until hot through.

8. Add in the spring onions and chickpeas. Stir well and reduce to a simmer, cooking until the chickpeas are heated through.

9. Serve over rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and spring onions.

10. Without the chickpeas added, the sauce makes around 2 cups. With the chickpeas and served on rice, serves 4.