Warming Chickpea Bowl (oil-free)

If it's cold and rainy outside and you want to feel warm and cozy, try this healthy vegan chickpea bowl recipe! It is made with wholesome ingredients, full of flavors and will instantly warm you up.

This Chickpea Bowl is Perfect for Fall and Winter

When it's cold outside, I either make myself a soup or a warming buddha bowl. While I do love soups because they are so easy and quick to make, I really enjoy bowls for the different textures and flavor combinations you can add.

I recently discovered buckwheat. If you have never tried it before - you're missing out! I think you should really give it a try. In my opinion it's a bit heartier than other grains which makes it perfect for those cold fall and winter months. Plus, you can also use it instead of oats to make a breakfast porridge.

This Warming Chickpea Bowl is Easy to Make

This chickpea bowl recipe includes one of my favorite ways to prepare chickpeas. The method is so simple. You just saute some onions and optionally minced garlic, then add the chickpeas along with some crushed tomatoes and a few spices. Let that simmer for ~10 minutes and you're done.

If you want something that is done even faster, you can add tomato sauce instead of crushed tomatoes (make sure to watch out for lots of added sugar though...). Because tomato sauce is less liquid, you only need to heat it thoroughly which takes less than 5 minutes.

Warming Chickpea Bowl

Ingredients

Hearty Chickpeas

- 1 can of chickpeas (~ 250 g)

- 1 onion

- 1 clove of garlic

- 1 can of crushed tomatoes (~ 400 ml)

- liquid smoke

- 1 tsp paprika

- salt

- pepper

for the bowl

- 100 g buckwheat groats, uncooked

- 200 ml vegetable broth

- 500 g cauliflower or broccoli

- 2 handful of spinach

- 2 tsp tahini

Instructions

Start by cooking the buckwheat groats in the vegetable broth for approximately 15-20 minutes until tender.
Wash and chop the cauliflower and/or broccoli. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the cauliflower/broccoli for ~ 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can steam it in the microwave (in a microwave safe bowl) for ~ 7 minutes.
Finely chop the onion and garlic. Saute in a pan with a splash of water for a couple minutes. Add the chickpeas, liquid smoke and spices and cook another minute. Then add the crushed tomatoes and simmer for ~ 10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated.
To make the dressing, mix the tahini with a few teaspoons of water until a pourable consistency is reached.
Finally, wash the spinach and microwave for one minute so that it loses some of its volume.
Assemble the bowls with the chickpeas, buckwheat, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower and drizzle the tahini dressing on top. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Notes

Instead of spinach, you can also use another leafy green such as kale or swiss chard.

If you don't have buckwheat, you could also use quinoa, rice or couscous.

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