And the strangest part?
I thought I didn’t like pineapple (talk about not knowing yourself).
If you’ve never been the biggest fan of the popular tropical fruit, this dish may surprise you too. The alchemy of flavors takes the focus off any one ingredient, instead delivering a complex sum of yumminess that’s very… moreish (to use the technical term).
Get ready for warm succulent bites of intermingled veg chickpea bathed in an irresistible tangy sweet & sour sauce… (the kind that’s perfect for serving with rice to sop up every last ounce of juicy goodness).
Fresh vs. Canned Pineapple
While fresh fruits and vegetables may be ideal nutritionally when sourcing locally and in season, the balance shifts when produce is shipped long distances and sits for long periods of time before making it into our homes. Frozen and canned produce is generally captured at the peak of harvest (freshness) and most studies show that nutrients are not significantly lost through the canning process. One thing to watch for are the additives – typically sodium and sugar — for this recipe, look for pineapple chunks without added sugar, preserved in natural juices (100% pineapple juice).
A Lower Sugar Ketchup Option
I recently discovered a lower sugar ketchup option (50% less sugar than traditional ketchup) by True Made Foods that has some added veg goodies in the mix while still managing to taste like ketchup (it’s actually really good). They also have no sugar condiment options available; always happy to share these discoveries with you. You’ll find a link in the recipe card if you’d like to check it out.
Spice it up?
For my spice loving friends, I’ve added an option to make the sauce sweet, sour & spicy in the recipe card — because some of us like those winning trifectas.
Thickening up the Sauce
This recipe will create lots of fluid sauce for drizzling — if you’d like to thicken it up, it’s an easy fix — you can start by adding 2 tsp of tapioca (or corn starch as preferred) to the sauce before adding it to the skillet (moving up to 1 Tbsp or so to desired consistency) — as the sauce starts to boil it will start to thicken up; you can always add more as needed.
It’s a one pot wonder the whole family can enjoy (or you can enjoy over and over again with leftovers, bonus) — let me know how it goes!
- For the Chickpea Mixture:
- 1 large yellow onion, medium dice
- 3 red bell peppers, medium dice
- 500 g (about 2.5 cups) cooked chickpeas (drained and rinsed if using canned)
- 420 g (about 2 cups) unsweetened pineapple chunks (from can or fresh)
- 2 generous handfuls, or to taste, baby spinach
- For garnish: sesame seeds; green onions, fresh herbs, etc. as desired.
- For the Sweet & Sour Sauce:
- ⅓ cup tamari or soy sauce
- ⅓ cup reserved pineapple juice (or freshly squeezed orange/mandarin juice!)
- ⅓ cup ketchup (I'm enjoying this discovery)
- 1 Tbsp grated ginger (peel the fresh ginger and grate)
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- optional:1-2 tsp, or to taste, hot pepper sauce (I'm using Italian bomba hot pepper sauce; chili garlic sauce would also be a good choice) simply skip if you prefer no heat
- optional: 2 tsp-1Tbsp tapioca starch (or corn starch) to thicken sauce (see blog post notes above on this).
- Combine Sweet & Sour sauce ingredients in a small bowl, whisking to combine and set aside.
- In a roomy skillet, sauté onions in some olive oil for a couple minutes until they start to soften, then add red peppers and continue to mix.
- Once red peppers have deepened in color and softened somewhat, add chickpeas, gently intermingling, followed by pineapple.
- Give the sweet & sour sauce another thorough whisk and then drizzle over the contents of skillet. Gently mix to combine and then bring heat to a low boil until everything is heated through.
- Add baby spinach tossing to combine, just until it is integrated (slightly wilted) - serve over warm rice and top with desired garnish.
Speaking of sourcing locally… definitely don’t have pineapple but winter citrus is in its glory here in Northern California; I’m using the juice from our satsuma mandarins for the sauce.
You just facilitated a flashback to the early eighties when I copied a recipe for Sweet and Sour pork from a cookbook at our local library! I made the dish for JT when we were dating because he loved pineapple. My parents thought the recipe sounded ridiculous with the pineapple but turned out that they loved it. Using chickpeas to modernize and old favourite making it a healthier dish sounds wonderful.
Hi Eva, now you have me reminiscing about lingering in libraries and the days of being able to thumb through magazines in offices…. we’ll find our way back. I’m so happy the chickpea pineapple combo sounds yummy to you too; it’s funny how unexpected ingredients can make happy panfellows:) hope you get a chance to try it sometime. Cheers.
Delicious! It makes tons of sauce, I ended up thickening it but I think it would also be good without the starch. Lots of leftovers that we’ll fight over :D really tasty, will make again. Thank you!
Oh that’s wonderful! I’m delighted it worked out for you and I hear you on the battle for the scraps:) thank you for taking the time to share your feedback and star rating too (it helps others find the recipe). Happy Sunday.
First let me say that I’m very jealous of your satsuma tree. I love those oranges and they are hard to find here. This dish looks quite yummy and a palate pleaser for sure. Of course I love pineapple and is an ingredient that I use quite often in Asian type dishes, like fried rice, and Coconut curries. Omit the spicy condiment? No way! :)
Hiiii, so many mandarins this year and I’m not mad about it :) there shall be no omitting of spice here, haha x
This is calling my name real loud!
I love pineapple but the fresh fruit gives me mouth sores, pretty irritating – I still eat it every once in a while and deal with the consequences
but I don’t think I have a problem when the pineapple is cooked – I love everything about this recipe – will be making it soon, you can be sure!
hope you are hanging in there, staying safe and everyone is healthy!
hello Sally! :) I hear you on the raw pineapple, the combo of bromelain + acid is a lot; I also find it sickly sweet but somehow tolerable in this recipe; hope it works for you too! x thank you for your kind thoughts, hope you’re staying well too♥