Description
Pantry-friendly grains and canned chickpeas turn into an easy, warm, comforting, CRISPY dinner. Eat as a main dish or a quick side with roasted chicken or fish
Ingredients
Scale
- 1/2 cup grains (I did a mix of brown rice and farro here)
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Garlic tahini yogurt
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt (greek works too!)
- 2 tablespoon tahini
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- If not using already cooked grains, combine 1/2 cup grains of choice and 1 1/2 cups water (or however much you need to cook said grains of choice) in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes until grains are cooked. Set aside and let cool.
- Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large frying pan (cast iron works great, but not necessary) over medium heat. When oil is hot, add 1 small sliced onion.
- Cook onions, stirring occasionally, for 12-15 minutes. Onions should be soft and light brown, with a few pieces darkened and burnt-like. Resist the urge to raise the heat to ensure they don't all start to burn too quickly.
- Add 1 can chickpeas and cooked grains (if using already cooked, it's about 2 cups), along with 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (or seasonings of your choice) and 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes.
- Stir everything everything, arrange into a single layer and increase the heat to medium-high.
- Let everything cook/fry for 5 minutes, undisturbed.
- Meanwhile, make the garlic tahini yogurt: Stir together 1/2 cup yogurt, 2 tablespoons tahini and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Grate in 1 garlic clove and add 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set aside.
- After 5 minutes, check a little patch and see how it is doing. If you want it more browned and crispy, let it go for another minute or two! If your grains were just cooked you might need to let it longer to help the moisture cook off. Just keep an eye on it and use your gut.
- Toss everything together, and let cook for an additional minute.
- Serve crispy chickpeas and grains warm or at room temperature with garlic tahini yogurt.
Notes
- Like fried rice, this dish is actually better with day-old grains, but I didn't want to assume we all had a pile of grains hanging out in the fridge. Like the recipe says, just keep checking and cook it for as long as it needs to in order to crisp up the way you want!
- Cooked dried beans and canned beans work equally well with this one. YAY.
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 25 (not counting grain cooking time)
