Vietnamese-style caramel chickpeas
Chickpeas simmered in a dark, glossy caramel sauce with garlic, shallots and lots of black pepper, the sweet-salty flavor of a Vietnamese kho, over rice with a quick cucumber pickle.
- 35 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $1.70 a serving
- 590 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups jasmine rice, rinsed
- 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
From your pantry
- 2¾ cups water, divided
- ¾ tsp salt, divided
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- ¼ cup sugar, divided
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 590 calories, 20 g protein, 110 g carbs and 8 g fat, and costs about $1.70 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 cucumbers? English cucumbers or mini cucumbers work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the rice, 2¼ cups water and ½ teaspoon 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 15 minutes, then leave it covered off the heat.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
the cucumber with the vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar and of salt and set aside.
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.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Sprinkle the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar in an even layer in a large and set it over medium heat. Leave it alone, swirling the pan now and then, 3 to 5 minutes, until it and turns the color of maple syrup.
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.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min
Dolly’s tip: Don’t stir, just swirl. Pull it at amber. Dark brown caramel tastes bitter.Add the oil, shallots and garlic, carefully, and stir 1 minute.
Medium heat
Dolly’s tip: The caramel may seize into lumps. Keep stirring and it melts back as it cooks.Stand back and pour in the soy sauce and the remaining ½ cup water, then add the pepper and chickpeas.
Medium heat
Dolly’s tip: It spits when the liquid hits the hot caramel. That’s normal.10 to 12 minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce is thick and sticky and coats the chickpeas.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heatTimer: 11 min
Stir in most of the green onions and serve over the rice with the cucumber pickle and the rest of the green onions.
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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