Tortillas with Creamy Kale and Toasted Chickpeas

Tortillas with Creamy Chickpeas and Kale | The Full Helping

When was the last time you cleaned out your freezer, down to the last spare item and leftover bit? For me, the answer is perched someplace between “never” and “rarely.” I use my fridge constantly, and frozen leftovers make frequent appearances in my weekly dinners, but it’s not often that I make an effort to use up each and everything I’ve preserved.

This week, I’ve been doing some major house cleaning, which has led to all sorts of fascinating discoveries. Juice pulp from 2011, courtesy of Valerie. Sunshine Burgers that have turned into bricks. Thanksgiving stuffing from last year. Flax seeds that I distinctly recall transporting from NYC to D.C. when I moved here. It seems I need to explore the depths of my freezer more than once a year. The upside of this excavation is that I found some sprouted corn tortillas, and this led to the tasty tortillas with creamy kale and toasted chickpeas that you see today.

I always think it’s a fun exercise to take inventory of what’s on hand and then find ways to turn it into a good meal. So, along with the tortillas, here’s what else I had on hand: 2 cans chickpeas. 1 head kale. The usual array of nuts and seeds. Lemon. There were other veggies in my fridge, but those were the standout ingredients. With last week’s creamy kale salad with apples and walnut dressing in mind, I figured I’d make some easy tortillas with kale and chickpeas. To give it all extra flavor and texture, I roasted the chickpeas first.

Roasting chickpeas gives them wonderful flavor and an irresistible, crispy texture. It’s actually something I do all the time, but it’s never occurred to me to blog about it. For this recipe, I kept things super simple, and I tossed them in a mixture of tamari, cumin, smoked paprika, and a little vegan Worcestershire sauce. Into a 375 degree oven they went, for 35 minutes. And out they came, toasty and delicious!

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I have been known to sit around eating these guys with a spoon. But they also make a delicious packed snack, and they add a lot to salads! And over the weekend, I found out that they’re perfect tortilla stuffers, too.

Tortillas with Creamy Chickpeas and Kale | The Full Helping

Tortillas with Creamy Kale and Toasted Chickpeas
Recipe Type: main
Cuisine: vegan, gluten free option, soy free option
Author: Gena Hamshaw
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 3 cups cooked chickpeas (2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed)
  • 2 tablespoons tamari (substitute coconut aminos)
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (such as avocado or grapeseed)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 2 teaspoons vegan Worcestershire sauce (optional)
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1 head curly or dinosaur kale (about 8-10 leaves), de-stemmed, washed, and chopped into bite-sized pieces
  • Creamy raw dressing (recipe below)
  • 8 6-inch corn or whole wheat tortillas
  • Creamy Raw Dressing (makes 2/3-3/4 cup)
  • 1/2 cup cashews or walnuts, soaked for at least 2 hours and drained
  • 1 teaspoon chia seeds
  • 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons maple syrup or 1 pitted Medjool date
  • 1 tablespoon dried dill
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 375F. Toss chickpeas in the tamari, oil, cumin, paprika, Worchestershire sauce, and lime juice. Bake 30-35 minutes, or until chickpeas are crispy, stirring once or twice during cooking to prevent burning.
  2. While the chickpeas roast, blend all dressing ingredients together in a high speed blender till smooth. Place the kale pieces into a large mixing bowl and “massage” the kale with the dressing, using your hands to manipulate it firmly and help to wilt it down.
  3. When the chickpeas are done, stuff each corn torStuff each tortilla with about half cup each kale and chickpeas. Serve.
  4. These tortillas combine so many of my favorite things—kale, a good dressing, toasty chickpeas. So many of my favorite things, in fact, that I could totally overlook the fact that corn tortillas are not among my favorite things.

Tortillas with Creamy Chickpeas and Kale | The Full Helping

Delicious. I hope you’ll like this easy vegan lunch dish as much as I did!

Before I go, I want to thank you all for welcoming my everyday, simple food with so much love. Today I was thinking that, since I started writing CR, my life has changed in so many ways. I have a new career, a new lifestyle (student vs. full time working), I’m in a new city, and in between all of those shifts, my relationship with raw foods has gone through various transformations, my ED recovery has gotten firmer, and I’ve come into my own as someone who publicly talks about my struggles with food.

Throughout all of this change, you guys have encouraged me to be myself, in ways as small as saying “hey, we don’t mind if you just post an iPhone photo of your lunch!” and ways as profound as welcoming my decision to get a post-bacc. I’m so grateful. Thanks.

xo

Images courtesy of Lighter.

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Categories: Main Dishes
Ingredients: Chickpeas, Kale
Dietary Preferences: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Vegan
Recipe Features: 30 Minute or Less, Quick & Easy

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    27 Comments
  1. We had these for dinner tonight and enjoyed them alot! Will make again!
    Thanks so much for sharing the recipe, Gena!

  2. I made this last week. It was so easy and really good! I made the chickpeas ahead of time (the night before) and didn’t store them in water. When I roasted them, they turned out pretty dry. Is that normal? Do you think the way I stored them had anything to do with it? Thanks!

  3. I made these for dinner last Thursday and they were simply amazing! I made homemade corn tortillas from scratch to go along with the kale/chickpea filling and they were so good. Even my husband liked them and he’s not usually a fan of chickpeas. I just recently discovered your blog, you have so many wonderful and creative recipes! I can’t wait to try out some more! 🙂

  4. Gena, That chickpea idea is brilliant! I made some over the weekend and am having them today in a salad, yesterday I had some in collard wraps with some jasmine rice/carrot/raisin mixture. Fantastic.

  5. Those look so good. I agree that store bought corn tortillas are often really dry and bland, but if you can get them freshly made, boy are they good. I can’t wait to try this new spin on tacos.

  6. I, too, love the Food for Life sprouted corn tortillas. So glad you gave us a yummy recipe for them. I will just leave the avocado oil out of the recipe and plan on savoring these often. As a former Texan, I may have to use pintos instead of garbanzos sometime…Thank you!

  7. Thanks for this yummy way to use up the extra chickpeas and tortillas I always seem to accumulate! I’m not a dill fan, so I used cilantro instead and also added avocado for a little something extra – delish!

  8. I love your quick and simple food, too. I am much more likely to make something like this at the end of a long work day. I’m also glad that you feel supported enough by your readers to do what you need to do, and what works best for your lifestyle right now. That’s the great thing about getting older: evolving, and embracing it.

  9. Yes please, simple recipes! My eyes glaze over when there are more than 8 ingredients or 2 steps… I’m just that lazy 😉 I’m much more into “ideas”- the idea of freezing snack bars or roasting chickpeas, for example. And meal shots are great- often I’m just looking for general green eating inspiration, and something will catch my eye (even just an ingredient) and I’ll get a “green craving.” good luck with your crazy schedule! 🙂

  10. Cleaning out the freezer can indeed be daunting…we all must face it at some point.
    I can’t wait to try your chickpeas they look quite yummy all toasted up.

    I have a question though about the dressing. Does the use of 1 C of water negate needing to soak the cashews? I just want to make sure I don’t flub up the dressing when I give it a go.

    • You have to soak the cashews so they are “soft” and blend well- soak in water,(overnight is best) then drain them/throw out water.
      The water in the dressing ingredients thins out the dressing.

  11. The freezer at my parents’ place is just like this, and my mom almost never cleans it out! Somehow it has become the household chore that I do when I go home on breaks–I only hope I’ll find something as delicious as this to make the next time I look in there!

  12. I’m with all of your readers Gena, whatever you post always provides me with inspiration, insight or opportunities for introspection. Thank you for continuing to share so generously with all of us.

    Sending you lots of love.

  13. I love chickpeas! It never occurred to me that I could throw in a date when I’m making a dressing; can’t wait to try it out.

  14. Just to reinterate…I LOVE the simple recipes the most. I am much more likely to attempt them than I am the others that have lots of ingredients. Thanks for offering your ideas online for us.

  15. I am loving this recipe! So many layers of flavor yet so simple.

    Those tortillas are my go to for a quick dinner.

  16. I think we can still be friends even if you’re not crazy about corn tortillas–I LOVE any type, brand, variation on the corn tortilla, & since pretty much going gf-free I live on these things. Not quite the replacement I’d like for wheat bread, but it works. & unlike, wheat bread, they don’t make my stomach cry out for help.

    I’m the worst when it comes to storing stuff in my freezer. We bought an extra storage freezer (just because I *needed* the extra space), & boy, oh boy, if I don’t keep a handle on that thing, it quickly becomes a jumbled racket of a mess. I don’t know the best way to keep on top of freezer inventory, but like you, I’m always discovering long, forgotten foods (sometimes fun, sometimes just plain weird).

  17. I like food for life too…but I had these and made enchilada’s with them but these look so good

  18. I need to try roasting chickpeas sometime, they sound so delish! I have things in my freezers that I don’t even remember buying. I am positive there’s sprouted corn tortillas buried in there somewhere.

  19. Yay for cleaning out the freezer! It is my goal to eat through my pantry before my move to Texas, too. When it is as tasty as this it won’t be a problem. BTW, love your inclusion of dill in your dressing. 🙂