If you’re a fan of Indian or Middle Eastern flavors, you’ll love this recipe for Carrot Noodles with Chickpeas + Zhoug. It has all the flavors with spices such as sumac, turmeric and cumin, fresh herbs, jalapeño, roasted chickpeas, carrot “noodles” and basmati rice.
It’s perfect for a healthy lunch or meatless dinner. Plus, it’s easy to make and can be batch-cooked on your meal prep Sunday.
It’s all about the sauce…
The “glue” that brings this dish together is a spicy Middle Eastern sauce called Zhoug. If you’ve never had zhoug I highly recommend you make this part of the recipe if nothing else, it’s a total flavor bomb! Not to mention it goes great with so many things. Think grain bowls, tacos, hummus and even eggs.
Zhoug is made with fresh jalapeño, cilantro, garlic, lemon, olive oil and spices. Check out my recipe here. And because this sauce is good on and in just about anything I recommend even making a double batch. It’ll keep in the fridge a week fo so.
Zhoug is a tasty and versatile sauce
Puttin’ the chick in chickpea…
The other components of this dish are the roasted chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans), some raw carrot “noodles”, and fragrant basmati rice rounds out the meal.
Have you had roasted chickpeas before? If not, another thing you have to try asap. They are delish! In dishes like this, or even as a crispy snack.
You just toss cooked chickpeas with a little avocado oil or olive oil, some salt and spices and pop them in the oven on 450° for 15 – 25 minutes, depending on how crispy you like them.
For this recipe I went with tangy citrusy sumac, turmeric, urfa biber (a dried turkish chili pepper) and salt on the chickpeas. But you can use whatever spices you like ~ Za’atar, curry, vadouvan or berbere would work well here.
If you live in Manhattan, check out the amazing spices and spice blends at La Boîte.
Serve with basmati rice to round out the meal
Roasting chickpeas are easy, but there are a few tricks to get them crispy.
The tricks to getting crispy chickpeas are:
- blot dry with paper towels after rinsing and draining
- use a little avocado or olive oil, but not to much
- spread them out onto a large roasting pan
- use high heat for roasting, I like 450°
- let them roast longer for a crispier texture
Leave the carrot noodles raw or give ‘em a quick sauté
The rest of the dish…
For the carrots, I use a mandolin to make long julienned noodles. You can also buy pre-noodled veggies such as carrots in many grocery stores. Or use a spiralizer or julienne peeler to make them fresh in a flash.
The key is to get fat carrots. Generally for this type of recipe I get the loose ones, as opposed to the green topped fresher carrots. And I like to enjoy the carrot noodles raw in this recipe, but you can give them a quick sauté if you like.
While the chickpeas and carrot action is happening, make some basmati rice. This takes about as long to cook at the roasted chicks, about 15 minutes.
TIP: rinse your basmati rice in a fine-mesh strainer until the water runs clear, this removes the extra starch
An optional crunch topping for this dish could be chopped toasted pistachios or my Smoked Almonds. And you can garnish with some extra fresh cilantro for serving, too. Sub parsley if you aren’t a fan of cilantro, by the way!
My recipe for Carrot “Noodles” with Chickpeas + Zhoug is below, so I hope you like it as much as I do. If you make it, leave a comment below or tag me on Instagram.
Like chickpeas? Peep these recipes…
Spice Roasted Chickpeas (vegan, GF)
Avocado Hummus (vegan, GF)
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
| Servings |
servings
|
- 1 15-oz can garbanzo beans/chickpeas rinsed, drained and patted dry
- 1 tsp extra virgin avocado or olive oil
- 1 tsp sumac see blog notes
- 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/3 tsp urfa biber pepper or sub black pepper, aleppo, or chipotle flakes
- to taste flaky sea salt
- 2 large/fat carrots peeled and julienned into long noodles
- 2 - 4 servings cooked basmati rice
- 1 recipe zhoug see blog post for links
Ingredients
|
|
- heat oven to 450° and line a large sheet pan with parchment baking paper
- toss chickpeas with avocado oil, spices and salt to taste, spread onto prepared pan and roast 15 - 25 minutes (roast closer to 25 minutes if you prefer a crispy chickpea)
- to serve, in a large bowl toss carrot noodles with roasted chickpeas, some of the zhoug, then serve over rice; top with chopped toasted nuts and fresh cilantro for garnish if desired
Recipe serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side
Original recipe created by Jerran Boyer
www.healthnutchefs.com