Grilled Summer Vegetables with Crispy Rice + Chickpeas (1 Grocery Shop, 5 Healthy Meals Series)
It’s recipe 4 in my series, where we take 1 grocery shop and turn it into 5 healthy meals for the week! For today’s recipe, we are grilling (or in my case, air frying) all the end-of-summer veg and topping it with our leftover crispy chickpeas, some rice that we crisp up in a pan and a generous drizzle of the Spicy Cashew Dressing from yesterday’s salad. That’s right, summer is NOT OVER for technically another week, so I don’t wanna hear about pumpkin yet!!! We’re still taking advantage of summer produce over here.
I love this recipe because I feel like it’s the last chance to take advantage of summer zucchini and eggplant, and I love an opportunity to turn veggies into a full meal. We have protein from the chickpeas + dressing, and the crispy rice (which you can do in an air fryer or a pan) is a final touch that bulks it up a bit and adds some lovely texture. Hope you enjoy this one!
Grilled Summer Vegetables with Crispy Rice + Chickpeas
Ingredients
1 zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
2 small eggplants, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
2 bell peppers, cut into chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Salt + pepper
Leftover crispy chickpeas
Leftover spicy cashew dressing
Leftover rice from this recipe (you only need about 1/3-1/2 cup)
Cilantro and/or other fresh herbs for topping, if desired
Method
Preheat your grill or air fryer to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, toss sliced vegetables with the olive oil and garlic powder, plus a generous amount of salt + pepper. If air frying, let them cook for 20-25 minutes, flipping each one halfway through, until vegetables are charred on both sides. If you’re using an oven they will need about 35 minutes; if using a grill, likely only 15.
Once veggies are cooked, transfer to a plate to cool. On the same oven or air fryer tray, add your leftover rice and press it down to form a “patty”. Drizzle with olive oil and let cook at 400 for about 10 minutes, until the edges are starting to turn a deep golden brown (you could also do this in a pan). For the last 5 minutes, add your leftover chickpeas to the tray as well to get them re-crisped.
Arrange vegetables on a serving platter and top with the crispy chickpeas and rice. Drizzle generously with spicy cashew dressing, then top with fresh herbs and serve.
Serves 2
