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This Ethiopian Berbere spiced chickpea bowl is the perfect nourishing comfort food for a hot summer day. Chickpeas are braised in a fragrant sauce spiced with a medley of berbere and warming spices like cumin, paprika, and coriander and served with a zesty fruity blueberry lime salad. Glutenfree Nutfree Soyfree
This easy chickpea bowl takes just 20-25 mins to put together and tastes out-of-this-world delicious. The flavors are bang on but the prep time is minimal. As a base, you can use cooked rice or quinoa or couscous, or other grains of choice.
For the seasoned chickpeas, add all the Berbere chickpea ingredients to a skillet and let them simmer away while you slice and prep your blueberry salad.
When it comes to assembling your chickpea bowl you can get as creative as you want and use any leftover cooked grains, roasted veggies, or torn-up chunks of flatbread and you have a spicy and refreshing summer bowl that tastes phenomenal. You can also change up the format and serve these as wraps or tacos or in lettuce cups!
This Ethiopian spice mix with red chili peppers, fenugreek, and ginger blended with warm spices like coriander, cardamom, allspice, cumin, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, and some lesser-known spices such as korarima, ajwain, and long pepper has so much complex flavor. Depending on the brand and the recipe, the blend can be quite hot or moderately hot.
It adds amazing flavor to dishes and also adds quite a bit of heat to this chickpea bowl so if you don’t like spicy food, you might want to be careful when adding the berbere.
For those of you who love spicy food, I have great news. Did you know that eating spicy things actually helps you cool down on a hot day? The spice raises your internal temperature to match the temperature outside. Your blood circulation increases, you start sweating a bit and once your moisture has evaporated, you’ve cooled off.
I usually use the Berbere blend from world spice, our local spice shop that has a fabulous collection of organic and sustainable spices. You can also make your own using my recipe from my books or here.
Why you will love the Berbere chickpea bowl
- its Glutenfree Nutfree soyfree
- Easily made oilfree
- the chickpeas come together in 15 mins
- serve up the chickpeas in tacos or wraps. Change up the salad as needed
- use lentils or other beans for variation
More Bowl recipes:
Vietnamese Inspired Caramelized Pork Bowls with Lentils
Sheet Pan Roasted Root Vegetable Bowls with Mediterranean Dressing
Spicy Bbq Cauliflower Salad Bowl
More Berbere spice recipes
Chickpea Spinach Pie with Berbere Spice
Ethiopian Berbere Chickpea Pizza with Tahini Garlic Dressing
Berbere Spiced Jackfruit Tacos – 1 Bowl
Berbere Roasted Kabocha Squash with Tahini Dill Dressing
Berbere Chickpea Bowl with Blueberry Tomato Lime Salad
Ingredients
For the berbere chickpeas:
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 15 ounce can chickpeas , drained or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
- 2 teaspoons berbere , – more as needed for later
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt , , use less or more bars on if chickpeas are salted
- 1/2 cup water plus more if needed
- lemon juice as needed
For the blueberry lime salad:
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
- 1/2- 1 cup chopped tomato
- 1 jalapeno finely chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard or ginger powder or you can use 1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 cups chopped lettuce or other crunchy greens or baby spinach
For the bowl:
- Cooked rice or quinoa or couscous or other grains of choice
- roasted veggies on the side if you like
Instructions
- Make the berbere chickpeas: Add all of the ingredients and 1.5 teaspoon berbere spice in a skillet over medium heat. (Alternately you can cook the onion in the oil for 2-3 minutes and then add the rest of the ingredients. )
- Cook until the water has mostly evaporated, the chickpeas are coated in spices and the spices smell roasted. Stir occasionally in between.
- Carefully taste and adjust salt and flavor. Add a good splash of water. Add another 1/2 teaspoon of berbere. Add a few squeezes of lemon/lime juice if you like and take off heat.
- Make the blueberry lime salad: To a bowl, add the blueberries, onion, tomato, jalapeno, chopped lettuce or other crunchy greens. Then add in the spices, lime juice, and toss well to coat.
- To serve, add a good helping of the berbere chickpeas, the blueberry lime salad, cooked grains. Squeeze another squeeze of lime juice and then serve. Add flatbreads or chips for variation.
Video
Notes
- For variation, you can use other berries such as raspberries, black berries, or other fruits such as chopped apples instead.
- Add a serving of roasted veggies to the bowl.
- You can also use lentils instead of chickpeas in the berbere chickpeas.
- Berbere can vary in heat based on brand. So start with a lower amount and add more in the end as needed. Or you can make your own berbere and adjust heat as needed.
- Onion garlic free: use zucchini instead of onion with the chickpeas. Omit onion from the salad. Omit garlic onion powder from the chickpeas. Many Berbere spice blends contain shallots, if that doesn’t work, use other spice blends such as garam masala or Cajun or baharat
- Oilfree omit the oil.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Chickpea Bowl Ingredients:
- chickpeas – drained or cooked chickpeas
- the chickpeas simmer along with some sliced red onion for extra umami
- spices: berbere, coriander, cumin, paprika, garlic and powder
- for the blueberry lime salad, we toss blueberries with onion, tomatoes, jalapeno and lettuce or baby greens
- the salad dressing is a simple zesty mix of lime juice, ground mustard, salt and pepper
Recipe tips & variations:
- For variation, you can use other berries such as raspberries, blackberries, or other fruits such as chopped apples instead of blueberries.
- Add a serving of roasted veggies to the bowl.
- You can also use lentils instead of chickpeas in the berbere chickpeas.
- Berbere can vary in heat based on brand. So start with a lower amount and add more in the end as needed. Or you can make your own berbere and adjust heat as needed.
How to make Berbere Chickpea Bowl:
Cooked rice or quinoa or couscous or other grains of choice. You can also add in some roasted veggies on the side if you like to the bowl
Make the berbere chickpeas: Add all of the ingredients to a skillet over medium heat. Alternatively you can cook the onion in the oil for 2-3 minutes and then add the rest of the ingredients.
Use 1.5 teaspoons of Berbere to begin with if you aren’t sure about the heat level of the blend.
Cook until the water has mostly evaporated, the chickpeas are coated in spices and the spices smell roasted. Stir occasionally in between.
Carefully taste and adjust salt and flavor. Add a good splash of water. Add another 1/2 teaspoon of berbere. Add a few squeezes of lemon/lime juice if you like and take off the heat.
Make the blueberry lime salad: To a bowl, add the blueberries, onion, tomato, jalapeno, chopped lettuce or other crunchy greens. Then add in the spices, lime juice, and toss well to coat.
To serve, add a good helping of the berbere chickpeas, the blueberry lime salad, and the cooked grains. Squeeze another squeeze of lime juice and then serve. Add flatbreads or chips for variation.
serve as a bowl or make wraps or tacos.
Storage:
Store the Berbere chickpeas and salad separately refrigerated for upto 3 days.
Loved it! Every one of your recipes turns out perfectly! The whole family loved it
Awesome!
I love this recipe! I’ve made it quite a few times. The combination of flavors is so good, and it’s perfectly filling. The only thing I’ve done differently is to add a little balsamic dressing to the salad. Wonderful! Thanks so much!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
We have made this twice since you posted the recipe. Perfect amount of spice and the salad is very good. Made it just as written. A real winner, thanks!
Great to hear Jeanne.
This recipe is fabulous! So flavorful, nice heat and fairly easy to assemble. Have shared it with many friends and will definitely make again. Thanks for such a unique recipe.
Fabulous~thank you for sharing.
This was tasty and filling. I used fresh spinach and blackberries. roasted veggies would have been a great addition. Also used a little balsamic vinegar to add moisture. Thanks Richa!
Yummy~I love roasted veggies too.
This is so tasty! The contrast from the spicy and the berries is wonderful. I served it over quinoa. Will be doing this again. Thank you Kathy.
I’m sorry! I mean thank you Richa.
Sounds scrumptious Sheila!
Thank You So much Richa
You’re very welcome.
Perfect timing; I just put my dried chickpeas up to soak. Thanks Richa.
Perfect.