I had a lot of chickpeas lying around and I was looking to create a chickpea recipe that wasn't chana masala, I thought I'd tinker around with a shakshuka recipe since my husband loves tomato-based sauces. It's a bit different than a traditional shakshuka (obviously) but it was really tasty!

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked chickpeas (I make my own but BPA-free cans would work also)
• 1/2 medium-sized onion (diced)
• 1/2 medium-sized red pepper (chopped)
• 2 garlic cloves (minced or you can use a garlic press)
• 2 medium-sized tomatoes (diced)
• 3 tbsp of passata or tomato paste (I like the passata since it gave it a lighter feel)
• 1 tsp coconut sugar or brown sugar
• 1 tsp paprika (smoked works well)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne or red chili powder
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
• Optional: 1/2 tsp ground coriander seed
• 2 tbsp cilantro (chopped - 1 tbsp while cooking and 1 tbsp for garnishing)
• sea salt, black pepper, and lemon to taste (add at the end)
• Optional: 1 tsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp oil

Instructions

Heat up the oil in a skillet and cook the garlic and onions until fragrant. Add in your red peppers and cook for a minute. Then, add in your spices, sugar, tomatoes, and passata.

Mix well and cook on medium heat for ~3 minutes.

Add in the chickpeas, stir, and reduce the heat to low and let the shakshuka simmer for 20 minutes with the skillet partially covered.

Add in your salt, pepper, lemon, and vinegar to taste, and garnish with the 1 tbsp of cilantro.

Serve as is with a piece of bread, over pasta, or cauliflower rice!