Sweet and sour chickpeas
Crispy chickpeas, peppers and juicy pineapple in a glossy sweet and sour sauce over jasmine rice, the takeout favorite made at home without any frying.
- 40 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.20 a serving
- 700 calories
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups jasmine rice, rinsed
- 2 cans chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 green bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
- ½ yellow onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 can canned pineapple chunks, drained, juice saved
- 3 tbsp ketchup
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced (optional)
From your pantry
- 2¼ cups water
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
Each serving has about 700 calories, 20 g protein, 130 g carbs and 12 g fat, and costs about $2.20 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No green bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the rice, water and salt in a and over high heat.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Stir once, cover, and cook on low for 15 minutes, then leave it covered off the heat.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
½ cup of the saved pineapple juice with the ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce and cornstarch in a small bowl. This is your sauce.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large over medium-high heat.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heat
Add the chickpeas and cook, shaking the pan now and then, 6 to 8 minutes, until and .
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min
Tip them onto a plate.
Add the rest of the oil, the peppers and onion and 3 to 4 minutes, until .
Stir-fry. Stir-frying means cooking small pieces fast over high heat in a little oil, stirring almost constantly. It moves quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before the pan gets hot.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the whole time, and the vegetables turn bright and tender-crisp in minutes.
Tender-crisp. Tender-crisp means vegetables cooked until just tender but still with a little snap. They keep their bright color and crunch instead of going soft and dull.
How you’ll know: A fork goes in with slight resistance, and the color is bright, not olive or gray.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min
Add the pineapple chunks and cook 1 minute.
Medium-high heat
Stir the sauce again, pour it in, and cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, until thick and glossy.
Medium-high heat
Dolly’s tip: Cornstarch settles to the bottom of the bowl, so always give the sauce a stir right before it goes in.Tip the chickpeas back in and to coat. Serve over the rice with green onions.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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