Name: Chickpea Vegetable Pilaf Rice
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 cloves of garlic, crushed; half small red onion, finely chopped; 1 cup (180g) of long grain rice; 2.25 cups (540ml) of chicken or vegetable stock; zest and juice of a lemon; 1/2 red pepper, finely chopped; 1 small zucchini, finely chopped; 1 cup (240ml) of canned chickpeas, drained; salt and black pepper to season; cooking oil spray (I used avocado); chopped fresh cilantro (coriander)

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Chickpea Vegetable Rice Pilaf - A perfect simple side dish for when you fancy something a bit more flavourful than plain steamed rice.

Chickpea Vegetable Rice Pilaf on white plate with blue rim

Simple Rice Pilaf

Have I mentioned how much I love rice? It's probably one of my go-to sides because it's super easy to cook and really filling too when combined with other foods. A great side for saucy dishes like curries and chilli etc.

Rice Pilaf just has a lot more flavour to regular rice, because it's usually cooked in a stock or broth and with some vegetables. It's actually so yummy I could eat a bowl of this own it's own.

Chickpea Rice Pilaf

Adding some chickpeas to the rice adds some fibre and protein, and as I always have a can of chickpeas on hand in my pantry cupboard, it's was a great item to add into this pilaf.

I love the texture they add also. Probably one of my favourite legumes

SUBSTITUTE FOR CHICKPEAS

But what if you don't like chickpeas or don't have any on hand? No worries, you can either leave those out and just stick with the vegetables.

Or some great substitutes for chickpeas are:

Green or Brown Lentils (cooked/canned) - I don't recommend red lentils as they will go mushy whereas green and brown hold their shape.

Any beans of choice such as:

Great Northern Beans or Cannelini
Butter Beans/Lima Beans
Kidney
Pinto Beans

so many different varieties to choose from.

Vegetables for Rice Pilaf

For this Chickpea Vegetable Rice Pilaf, the vegetables I added were:

garlic
onion
red pepper
zucchini (courgette)

some other great suggestions are:

different coloured peppers
carrot
little cubes of butternut squash
different herbs
finely diced tomato
mushrooms

or use whatever you fancy.

Main Dishes to serve with Chickpea Vegetable Rice Pilaf

One of my favourite recipes to serve with this Rice Pilaf is this delicious Oven Baked Salmon with Tomatoes, it just pairs amazingly well with the sauce and fish.

But it is a great side for a variety of dishes, especially those containing Fish, Shrimp (Prawns) or Chicken.

More Rice Side Dishes

Love rice side dishes like this? Check out some of my other recipes:

or head on over to my Full Recipe Index with over 900 delicious Slimming Eats and Weight Watchers friendly recipes all fully searchable by meal type, ingredients etc

close up of Chickpea Vegetable Rice Pilaf on white plate with blue rim

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Recipe Card

Yield: SERVES 4

Chickpea Vegetable Pilaf Rice

Chickpea Vegetable Rice Pilaf - A perfect simple side dish for when you fancy something a bit more flavourful than plain steamed rice.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

2 cloves of garlic, crushed
half small red onion, finely chopped
1 cup (180g) of long grain rice
2.25 cups (540ml) of chicken or vegetable stock
zest and juice of a lemon
½ red pepper, finely chopped
1 small zucchini, finely chopped
1 cup (240ml) of canned chickpeas, drained
salt and black pepper to season
cooking oil spray (I used avocado)
chopped fresh cilantro (coriander)

Instructions

Spray a deep frying pan with spray oil, add the garlic and onion and fry for a couple of minutes till lightly golden
Add the rice, red pepper, zucchini and chickpeas and lemon zest, lemon juice and spray with a little more spray oil and fry for about 1 more minute.
Add the stock, bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer till stock is absorbed.
When the liquid is all absorbed, turn off heat but leave covered for 10-12 minutes, the steam trapped underneath will continue to cook the rice.
Once the 10-12 minutes is up, you can stir and season with salt and black pepper, and stir through some chopped cilantro (coriander).
Serve with your choice of main dish and enjoy!!

Notes

Please see below for full nutritional info and additional details about recipe:

Calories - scroll down to nutritional info box
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