Sautéed Chickpeas

Now that I am cooking all of my own food, I notice that I eat substantially less meat than I used to. In college, I had a chef that prepared a whole buffet of food for lunch and dinner, Monday through Friday. Even though our chef Anthony always had a vegetarian option, I always found myself reaching for the beef, salmon, or chicken instead of the tofu. 

Nowadays, I mostly eat vegetarian lunches and dinners Monday through Friday. It is so much lazier easier, cheaper, and healthier! Vegetarian proteins, like legumes or quinoa, can be prepared early in the week, keep relatively well, and are easy to throw into salads, soups, or stir-fries. 

This recipe for sautéed chickpeas is quite popular at my house. One of my roommates, Maya, probably makes it once a week for all of us. It comes together quickly, but has complex flavor thanks to the dried herbs and vinegar. Maya like to eat these chickpeas with canned tuna on top, but I just prefer the chickpeas by themselves.

Sautéed chickpeas are my new go-to food when I come home at 7:30 from work, and all I want to do is eat, curl up in bed, and finish reading The Goldfinch. You probably have all these ingredients on hand, so why not try subbing this in for your boring chicken breast and rice dinner?

Sautéed Chickpeas

1 tablespoon butter (use olive oil to make this recipe vegan!)

1/2 chopped red onion

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 

1 can chickpeas

1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence

Fresh black pepper and salt to taste

Melt butter in a pan over medium heat.

Add in the onion, and stir for 3-4 minutes until softened.

Pour in the balsamic vinegar, and cook over medium heat until the vinegar begins to evaporate.

Add in the chickpeas, herbs, and salt/pepper. Stir until chickpeas are hot.

Serve with rice.

Thai Green Curry

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope your week has been off to a great start. In just three more days, it will be the weekend again, where you can go back to relaxing in pajamas all day, drinking coffee in bed, and exploring your wonderful city.

In the meantime, you need to survive three days of work.  And if you're anything like me, it's not just work, but also the gym, grocery shopping, learning French, reading for my book club, and volunteering. Tuesdays are typically the toughest in terms of trying to get everything done because I spend 2.5 hours in the early evening at BUILD, a national non-profit. I rush to get into work early so I can finish work by 4:30pm, spend 4:30pm-7pm at BUILD, and then often go to the gym afterwards. By the time I get home from BUILD, I am ready for bed.

And that's where this Thai Green Curry comes in. Ready in less than 20 minutes, this curry is flavorful, healthy, and best of all, great for lunch the next day.

Thai Green Curry

1 tablespoon canola oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1 package green curry paste

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 cup canned coconut milk

1 sweet potato, diced

Juice from one lemon

1 teaspoon fish sauce

1.5 cans chickpeas, rinsed

1 bell pepper, diced

Prepared brown rice or white rice

• In a saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add in the chopped onions, and stir occasionally until they start to wilt.   

• Next, add in the curry paste, and let it heat up for about 30 seconds.
• Pour in the chicken broth and coconut milk.  Stir in the sweet potatoes, lime juice, and fish sauce.  Let the sauce simmer on medium heat until the sweet potatoes are tender. 

•  Then, add in the chickpeas and the chopped bell pepper.  Cook over medium heat until heated thoroughly. The bell peppers should still have a little bit of crunch to them!
• Serve with brown or white steamed rice.