Lemon Chickpeas and Rice

A delicious and healthy one pot meal made of chickpeas, rice, and kale. Simply throw everything into a pot and it's ready once the rice is cooked!

These lemony chickpeas and rice are so easy to make. All you do is throw everything into a pot heat it up, then cover and walk away while the rice cooks. I often use white rice, and did so here, because I want my food sooner rather than later.

Ingredients:

• 4½ cups vegetable broth, no-chicken style is great here
• 2½ cups long grain white rice*
• 1 small organic lemon, washed and sliced into ¼" rounds
• 28 oz can (3 cups) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• ½ tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 small bunch (~5 oz) kale, diced
• ¾ tsp salt*
• freshly ground black pepper
• hot sauce, to serve (optional)

Instructions:

1. Place everything (except the hot sauce) into a large pot. Stir gently to distribute. Bring the mixture to a boil, then turn the heat to low and cover. Cook on low for 20 minutes.
2. Taste a few grains of rice to make sure it's cooked, then turn the heat off and leave covered and undisturbed for 10 minutes. After that, stir to fluff the rice and distribute the kale and chickpeas. Remove the bay leaves.
3. Serve warm and top with hot sauce if desired. Enjoy!

NOTES:

*You can substitute brown rice, but you will need to increase the cook time and add another ½ cup to 1 cup of broth or water
*If your broth is very salty you may want to use only ½ tsp, or if you have a low salt broth you may want to increase the amount to 1 tsp. You can always add more salt on your plate if needed.

Source: thecuriouschickpea.com