Hebs Sweetly

Lunching on a budget? Well hello vegan friendly chickpea quesadillas. These babies are creamy, filling and so delectable. 

Like my family, you might have bought a large amount of legumes and beans during the Covid-19 lockdown. We did too and we bought a whole lot of chickpeas in particular. This was mainly because of their ability to be so interchangeable in dishes.

Buying so many tins of chickpeas meant that we needed to be just a little more creative to avoid boredom. We ate loads of chickpea dishes like:

• Chickpea stews
• Chickpea curries
• Curried lentils and chickpeas with sweet potatoes
• Roasted chickpea traybake with veggies.

Then we started to run out of ideas and on one evening during Ramadan my mother was craving a cheesy tune quesadilla. I thought I would make some for everyone but there was only one tuna tin left and I had already chopped up the onions, peppers and tomatoes. From the corner of my eye I saw the case of chickpeas still half way full and looking very lonely indeed. I thought…why don’t I just try chickpeas in this quesadilla tonight instead?

Boom! Just like that we have a new family favourite: Chickpea Quesadillas.

These quesadillas are so easy to make, so versatile and delicious. To make these vegan, I used an eggless avocado mayonnaise that makes these babies so creamy you wouldn’t even miss the cheese element.

Honestly, quesadillas always save the day when I’m running a little low on imagination for dinner or lunch. You can literally add whatever you have left over in your fridge from the night before, squeeze it together on two pillowy soft tortillas and grill them till nice and crisp..delicious.

This dish is extremely straight forward and easy to make. Oh and did I mention easy on the pocket? (A typical can of chickpeas cost as little as 60p) You can even use this chickpea filling as an alternative to your regular tuna sandwich filling once in a while. A great way to get rid of the sad looking chickpea tin you forgot all about.

I hope you enjoy this quick meal as much as my family did.

Check the recipe out down below!

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Chickpea Quesadilla

Course lunch

Prep Time 7 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 3

Ingredients

• 1 Medium Red onion
• 2 Medium Tomatoes
• 1 Whole Pepper I used a mix of red, yellow and green peppers
• 1 Tablespoon Oregano
• 1 Tablespoon Smoked paprika
• 1 Tablespoon Cumin
• 1/2 Tablespoon Sea salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon Black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat your cooker to medium heat.

2. While your pan is heating up chop up the onion, tomatos and pepper.

3. Add olive oil to the pan and then the onion and peppers.

4. Mix until incorported and then season with spices, salt and pepper.

5. Add in tomatoes and then sauté the mixture for a couple of minutes.

6. Add in drained and rinsed tinned chickpeas.

7. Mix and then get a potato masher or fork and mash the chickpeas. Leave some whole for texture if you would like or mash them altogether evenly.

8. Taste to see if your happy with the seasoning. At this point add in the juice of half a lemon.

9. Get an empty bowl and add the chickpea mixture to it. Clean the pan you were using.

10. Now to assemble the quesadillas simply oil the cleaned pan and add in a tortilla, then add the chickpeas mixture. Add a few drops of the mayonaise on top and then top with another tortilla. Squeeze the tortilla down firmly.

11. Wait a couple of minutes and flip the tortilla over, it should be evenly browned. Now give it a couple of more minutes on the other side and take it off the pan. Cut carefully into quarters and then cut each quesidas again into 1/8's. Enjoy with a dip or as they are!