ALL-PURPOSE CHICKPEA SMASH
A main for every evening...
...and a sandwich filling for every vegan.
Just like everyone else, vegans need weeknight staples. I love settling in for an evening attempting a fairly elaborate new recipe, but there are loads of days - most of them, really - where that’s just not an option. These are days when I get out of work late, or I want to hit the gym, or I’m just wrecked and don’t want to think. I still have to eat on those days, and convenience is usually the deciding factor, so I have to have meals that are made from things I always have in the cupboard and the fridge, meals that cost me ten minutes and no thoughts.
Convenience can be a huge issue for vegetarians and vegans, more than for omnivores, because supermarkets and fast food outlets aren't usually set up for our needs (though this, wonderfully, is changing). While it takes a little extra work, convenience (without sacrificing taste) is absolutely attainable. When you hear about people starting to drift back into omnivorous tendencies, along with health concerns, convenience is usually part of the story.
Modern lives are busy, and just because you’ve made a commitment to change your diet to further the cause of animal welfare doesn’t mean you don’t need something as simple as a packet of ham for a week’s worth of sandwiches, or as handy as a chicken breast to eat with a few potatoes and carrots. A lot of vegans and vegetarians also live with their omnivorous families. If everyone else is having what I would call a traditional dinner in Ireland or Britain (e.g. meat, potatoes, veg) it’s nice to have a quick and easy protein dish to sub in for the meat, while fitting in with everyone else.
The dish I’m sharing today was originally my attempt to find a protein-packed main for the traditional dinner, but it quickly became my staple sandwich filling, too. I've used it as part of a mezze at a dinner party too - there are probably more situations it works in than that it doesn't. I was vegetarian and living at home with my parents when I came up with it, and that winter they were eating a pretty traditional Irish diet of meat, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips. My mother, an outstanding cook who generally handles the food at home, wanted me to be able to put something together pretty quickly in a single pan and get out of her way.
I was looking for something that would fit in with what she was making, but that would also bring the kind of bold, vivid flavour that the meat was lending to her dish. That’s an important part of the challenge when you’re making vegetables that fit with an omnivorous meal - finding something with a strong enough flavour that it can be the centrepiece of the dish, while also broadly fitting the flavour profile of the omnivorous meal.
Like a lot of vegans and vegetarians, when I cook for myself I tend to cook something with influences from various parts of Asia - curry, stir fry, falafel. All of those are great, but if you’re looking to match your meal to trimmings that are more aligned with Irish, British or French food, those options don't make as much sense.
I decided I wanted something with a barbecue flavour, a taste I had missed since quitting meat in the way that omnivores typically imagine you will. I looked at a few recipes for barbecue sauce online and discovered that smoked paprika is usually key to developing that flavour. You also need something sweet, and something sour (hence the golden syrup, which could be replaced by sugar, maple syrup or agave, and lemon juice). I don’t know how to describe what the whiskey and soy sauce do but it’s all damn good. From there it was a process of gradually changing the quantities until I was happy with the overall dish. Your palette might be a little different than mine - try varying the syrup and lemon juice if you want to alter the sweetness or tanginess.
This dish can be cooked in ten minutes, but its versatility is what makes it an omnipresent part of my weekly meal plans. It's perfect as a main, as a sandwich filling, it would work great in a Buddha bowl with a little brown rice and some spinach and roasted sweet potato, for example. This kind of multi-purpose food that can fit in with any meal is something I really missed as a vegetarian, and as a vegan it's even more valuable because you lose handy sandwich fillers like egg and cheese. Give it a try and settle on your own favourite way to enjoy it:-)
Ingredients
1 can of chickpeas (or 250g dried chickpeas soaked overnight and boiled)
1 onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp whiskey
1 tbsp golden syrup/maple syrup/agave/brown sugar
2 tsp smoked paprika
Pinch of pepper
Method
Fry the onion in a little oil (I used extra virgin olive oil but I wouldn't stress about it) on medium-high until it starts to brown.
Add the garlic and fry for another minute.
Add the chickpeas and fry for another minute.
Mix the lemon juice, tomato paste, soy sauce, golden syrup, whiskey, tomato and paprika in a bowl until smooth. Add to the pan.
Stir together and fry until the mixture starts to thicken and appears sticky.
If you want to make this into the sandwich filling described above, smash it with a fork, then leave to cool before storing it in a tupperware container. If you want to use it as a main, or in a salad, it’s ready to serve!