Spicy & Sweet Miso-Glazed Chickpeas

Try these miso-glazed chickpeas in your next dinner bowl!

Hello everyone! Today, I wanted to share my new favourite way of preparing chickpeas. We add these miso-glazed chickpeas to our dinner bowls or serve as a side. This dish calls for a couple of common Asian ingredients – sambal oeleck, white miso paste, and sesame oil. If you don’t have these on hand, they can be found easily at any Asian grocery store in your area.

Using sambal oeleck for these miso-glazed chickpeas made the cooking process unbelievably simple and quick. Sambal oeleck is an Indonesian sauce composed of fresh chili peppers that adds a wonderful kick to this dish. It’s great to have around in your fridge when you’re looking for something thicker than your average North American hot sauce.

Incorporate chickpeas for a plant-based protein source in your diet

Lately, we have been transitioning our diet to include more vegetarian sources of protein instead of meats. Personally, I find consuming too much meat causes my digestion to become sluggish and affects my energy levels. My mother, a vegetarian Indian woman, has never eaten meat in her entire life! I have a feeling that my body is built similarly to hers and is not well-adapted to handling meat. Therefore, my partner and I have made a conscious decision to replace meat where we can and add more vegan or vegetarian sources of protein to our diet. We love eating a variety of foods, so I don’t think we are quite ready to give up eating meat entirely yet. Not saying becoming vegetarian or vegan is completely off the table for us, but we are working towards that direction.

Vancouver vegetarian restaurants we love

The vegetarian space has exploded online in the last few years. Our city has a plethora of vegan and vegetarian eateries popping up including pizza joints, fried ‘chick-un’ sandwich shops, and middle eastern restaurants, no name a few. It seems like every restaurant has delicious vegan/veg options available, which is great to see. I have included a list below featuring all of my favourite vegetarian and vegan spots that I have tried in Vancouver, but there are many more that are still on my to-do list.

• Beetbox – Plant-based comfort food including fried ‘chick-un’ sandwiches
• Kind Cafe – Bowls, smoothies, baked goods, and fabulous bagels with carrot lox
• Chickpea – A huge variety of middle-eastern fare – all vegan!
• Aleph Eatery – An upscale middle-eastern dining experience
• Do Chay – Vegan Vietnamese fare

The allergy struggle…

Our biggest struggles when eating vegetarian food are nut allergies. My partner is allergic to cashews, peanuts, walnuts, pine nuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, and pretty much any other high-fat nut. A lot of vegan recipes use these high-fat nuts to make vegan cheeses, so we always keep an eye out for these ‘cheese’ products on restaurant menus. Peanuts and walnuts can sometimes sneak into salads or bowls. Luckily, my partner’s allergy is not life-threatening and we are always careful when dining out.

These miso-glazed chickpeas are a great way to add a satisfying, protein-rich component to a vegetarian meal. We always have at least a few cans in our pantry for quick meal preparation. Once prepared, they keep for up to 5 days in the fridge. Add them to your salads and dinner bowls throughout the week for a healthy, vegetarian source of protein – you won’t miss the meat.