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Kung Pao Chickpeas

I LOVE Pinterest. Who doesn't? I came across this recipe months ago and dutifully saved it to my Vegan board. Today I decided I wanted me some Kung Pao Chickpeas and man, I'm just wondering why I waited so long to make this dish!

Spicy, sweet and sour Kung Pao Chickpeas

In the interest of full disclosure, I've NEVER had Kung Pao Chicken, or Kung Pao anything, so I don't know what the dish is SUPPOSED to taste like. But I consider myself moderately knowledgeable on food genres and I typically do a lot of research before trying something new, to try to get a good sense of what the food is supposed to taste like. I assumed this dish should be sweet/salty/sour/hot and that's exactly how it turned out. Here's the recipe I used, modified from sheknows.com.


For the chickpea marinade


2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar (I used rice vinegar - per my trusty Facebook friends they are one and the same)

1 lime, juiced and zested

1 tablespoon agave or honey (I used honey)

1 tablespoon organic coconut oil, melted

1 tablespoon arrowroot powder or cornstarch (I used cornstarch)


For the chickpeas