General Tso's Chickpeas

This is a quick weeknight dinner. I used some fresh vegetables from the garden, but you could pretty much incorporate whatever you have into the stir-fry. The ingredients list will look a little intimidating, but I had pretty much everything for the sauce and marinade in my pantry already.

Recipe from Yup It's Vegan.

Ingredients:

For marinating the chickpeas:

-1 tablespoon soy sauce 

-1 tablespoon mirin

-1 15 ounce can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained

For the sauce:

-1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons vegetable broth

-1 and 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste

-1/2 tablespoons natural peanut butter

-1 tablespoons soy sauce 

-1 tablespoon rice vinegar

-1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sugar 

-2 teaspoon sriracha

-1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

-1 teaspoon prepared mustard

-1 teaspoon cornstarch

-1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or white pepper

-A small amount of neutral cooking oil.

-1 large broccoli crown, cut into florets

-1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
-2 green bell pepper, cut into strips 

-1 tsp. minced ginger

-2 cloves garlic, minced

-General Tso's sauce (above)

-marinated chickpeas (above)

-Rice and sesame seeds for serving, optional

For marinating the chickpeas: Stir together the soy sauce and mirin in a bowl and add the chickpeas. Let sit while you prepare the rest of the recipe.

For the sauce: Whisk together all of the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Heat oil in a wok over high heat. When the oil is hot,  add the broccoli, bell pepper strips, ginger, and garlic.

Once the vegetables are crisp tender, drain the chickpeas and stir them in too. Add the General Tso's Sauce. Cook for 1-2 more minutes, continuing to stir frequently, or until the mixture is hot throughout and the sauce has coated the chickpeas and vegetables. Serve over rice if desired and garnish with sesame seeds.

Although the ingredients list for this looks a little intimidating, it was actually really easy to make. It didn't take a lot of prep work and there was also very little cook time. I didn't think that the sauce was quite on par with General Tso's sauce, but it tasted good. I think it needed to be served over rice to make it more substantial, but you can serve it however you'd like. It might also be nice tossed with already cooked quinoa.