This is one healthy, decadent, delicious, and unique bowl!
Let’s start with the brown rice and chickpeas. YES, to prepare them, you literally just put the brown rice, water, and dried chickpeas together in your rice cooker. They cook together and are finished at the same time. It’s AMAZING. Seriously, it can’t get any easier than putting the chickpeas in your rice cooker with the brown rice and forgetting about them!
I really love the texture of chickpeas when you cook them yourself—it’s pretty different from the texture of canned chickpeas, which tend to be much softer, sometimes even a little mushy. The chickpeas in this bowl have a really satisfying bite, and are firmer after cooking than canned chickpeas. I absolutely LOVE these chickpeas!
And I must say really quickly that you absolutely don’t need a fancy pants rice cooker to get amazing rice with zero effort. Here is the rice cooker on Amazon that I’ve been using for years [aff. link]. This amazing little device will in no way break the bank, but it will completely revolutionize your time in the kitchen. I can’t tell you how amazing it is to pop some dried rice (and in the case of this recipe, dried chickpeas too!) into my reliable rice cooker, and not have to babysit the cooking process like you would on the stovetop. Highly recommend!
And is it just me, or do potatoes literally make everything better? Use a creamy potato for this bowl, like Yukon gold. So decadent! Even better, if you use Yukon gold, you don’t have to peel the potatoes before cooking. Talk about a time saver.
One of my favorite ingredients, roasted tomatoes, also adds immeasurably to this bowl! Have you roasted tomatoes before? If not, your world is about to be turned upside down! These roasted tomatoes are made even sweeter with the addition of red onion, which caramelizes during the roasting. It seriously doesn’t get any better!
This Rosemary Aioli. !!!! If you follow my recipes, you are well aware that I love a good sauce! Aioli, any type, is one of my very favorites. The possibilities with aioli are just endless!
I realized the other day that I have never ever heard of rosemary aioli. And since I love rosemary and I love aioli, I decided it was about time for me to come up with rosemary aioli! If you’re a rosemary fan, you have to make this sauce! I’m not exaggerating when I say that this rosemary aioli is a bit addicting. If we have leftovers of it after this meal, I usually find myself dipping pretzels, tortilla chips, or pita bread in this aioli the next day. It’s so good and so versatile!
Ok, I’ll stop gushing. Treat yourself and your family to this delicious and healthy bowl! It’s the perfect meal to enjoy as we settle in to fall!
And PS: the lovely crisps pictured with this Brown Rice Bowl are my Ciabatta Crisps. Another quite addicting favorite of mine! Check out my super simple recipe for these crisps here!
Brown Rice Bowl with Rosemary Aioli
Ingredients
For the rice
- 1 ½ cups brown rice, rinsed
- 3 cups water
- ¾ cup dried chickpeas, rinsed
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
- Squeeze of lemon juice, or to taste
For the potatoes
- 2 pounds potatoes, diced to 1/3 inch (I like Yukon gold or other non-peel potatoes here)
- ¼ cup olive oil OR 3 Tbsp butter
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
For the tomatoes and onion
- 10 oz cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- ½ red onion, cut into half rings/moons
- 1/8 tsp pepper
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
For the Rosemary Aioli
- 2 Tbsp fresh rosemary leaves, removed from the stem
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
- 1/3 cup Vegenaise or mayonnaise
- ½ cup cashew pieces
- 2 Tbsp water
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- ½ -1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
Cook the rice and chickpeas
- Put the brown rice, water, and dried chickpeas all together in your rice cooker. And cook! That’s it, just walk away and let the rice and chickpeas cook while you prepare the other meal components.
- When the rice cooker turns off and you are ready to serve the whole meal, transfer the rice/chickpeas to a mixing bowl, and add in the sea salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Mix together, taste, and adjust seasonings if desired. So easy!
Cook the potatoes
- In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat (or add the olive oil to the skillet and let warm for 30 seconds), then add the potatoes, salt, and pepper.
- Cook over medium heat, flipping frequently to avoid sticking. You can do other things—like make the aioli and the roasted tomatoes—while the potatoes cook, just be sure to check back and flip the potatoes every few minutes so they don’t get stuck to the bottom of the pan. (They’ll stick a little, and that’s ok!)
- The potatoes are done when they’re a bit crisp on the outside, and creamy and cooked through in the middle, about 25-30 minutes.
Roast the tomatoes and onion
- In a large mixing bowl, toss together the tomatoes, red onion, pepper, sea salt, and olive oil.
- Once everything is well incorporated, spread the mixture out on a standard sized baking sheet. Lay each tomato piece so that it is membrane-side up. The tomatoes and onions can be pretty close together, just make sure that they’re not on top of each other.
- Roast the tomatoes and onion at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. The tomatoes will shrivel a bit and the onions will be translucent. Tomatoes and onions are done!
Make the rosemary aioli
- While the other meal components cook, make the aioli. In the bowl of your food processor, add the cashew pieces, rosemary leaves, garlic clove, salt, and pepper. Process until everything has broken down to small flecks.
- Now add in the Vegenaise/mayonnaise and olive oil. Process until everything has incorporated, then add the water and the lemon juice. Start with ½ tsp lemon juice.
- Process once more until everything has come together. There will still be texture from the rosemary, and that’s great! Taste, and add more lemon juice if desired. Rosemary Aioli is done!
Put it all together
- I like to serve this in bowls! Spoon some of the rice and chickpea mixture into each bowl, then top with some creamy potatoes, followed by the roasted tomatoes and onion.
- Drizzle the rosemary aioli on top, or use it as a dip on the side. Pair this delicious bowl with a side of greens (or on top of some greens!) if desired. Enjoy!
This Post Has 2 Comments
Ok, stop it! You’re blowing my mind here… you cook the chickpeas with the rice? That’s so clever! And those roasted tomatoes sound absolutely delicious – I haven’t had them before and I kinda want to make some right now! Thanks so much for sharing!
Such a time saver right?!!!!! Chickpeas and brown rice is my new favorite combo because of this awesome trick!!! Awww thank you! Definitely give roasted tomatoes a try, you will quite literally fall in love with the flavor and texture! I could eat them all day long haha. Thank you so much for your kind comment Katerina! Hope you have a lovely weekend ❤️