Chickpea & Rice Stuffed Leeks in Spiced Tomato Sauce

Intensely flavorful chickpea and rice stuffed leeks in a spiced tomato sauce that balances fresh herbaceous flavors and warming spices for a perfect comforting flavor balance.

These chickpea and rice stuffed leeks are so flavorful it's crazy!

I made meat and rice stuffed leeks a little while ago and we both loved them so I knew stuffed leeks are a winner.

But I had this idea for spicy chickpea and rice stuffed leeks clanging around in my head ever since, and finally got around to whipping some up.

My husband ate them without knowing they were vegan. I observed closely, securitizing his reaction for a sign of knowing or flash of recognition. Nothing. All he said was 'these are really good, what's in them?'.

I asked him what he thought was in them and he replied, somewhat quizzically, "meat?" Ahh....perfect reaction. I almost couldn't believe it.

Nope, no meat at all in these...and my husband couldn't tell.

That's a win in my books and I have to say, we were both really pleased with the result.

Balancing textures and flavors can definitely elicit mouthwateringly flavorful plant-based foods that can fool (or at least please) even the most ardent meat eater in your house.

Quick Summary

• Fire up the oven and put a pot of water to boil;
• Dice up the aromatics for the sauce, sauté in oil then add tomato and let simmer;
• While the sauce is simmering, trim and blanche the leeks so they're easy to fold over the stuffing;
• Mix up the filling in a bowl - mash the chickpeas if it doesn't hold together;
• Stuff the leeks and lay them in the tomato sauce - pour over a bit of water, cover and bake until they're tender and golden. Enjoy!

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• Quick Summary
• Ingredients
• Equipment
• Instructions
• Serving Suggestion
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• Recipe
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Ingredients

• Leeks: The larger a leek you can find, the easier they are to stuff. Look for leeks that are as thick as you can find.
• Rice: A short grain rice is ideal. Good choices include Arborio, carnaroli or even sushi rice. Short grain rice has more starch so when it cooks, the starch absorbs liquid and gives a creamy texture to food. This makes it especially nice in stuffed vegetables. If you don't have it then just use any rice, it will still be good.
• Chickpeas: Canned chickpeas are convenient here because they're already cooked and you'll be mashing them anyway. If you are cooking the chickpeas from dry then be sure to cook them until they're very soft.
• Red onion: Red onion has a slightly brighter and sweeter flavor compared to yellow, which brings more of a pop to the filling.
• Fresh cilantro: Cilantro (a.k.a. coriander) adds a fresh somewhat citrusy flavor but if you don't care for cilantro then feel free to substitute fresh parsley or mint.
• Red chilies: Red chilies add spice and sweetness. Obviously adjust the amount to your personal preference, or just omit them altogether if you aren't into spice.
• Garlic: Garlic rounds out all the other flavors in the filling.
• Seasonings (dried summer savory, dill, black pepper and salt): Summer savory brings an earthy and umami flavor, dill brings fresh herb flavor, black pepper adds a hint of deep spice, and salt enhances all the other flavors.

tomato sauce

• Tomato puree: A can or tetra pack of tomato puree or crushed tomatoes is ideal. If you don't have that, you can substitute 3-4 fresh tomatoes, diced very finely or pureed in the food processor.
• Water: Water is needed to cook the rice and also to ensure the tomato sauce doesn't get too thick or burn while cooking.
• Yellow onion: Yellow onion brings a sweet and mellow onion flavor to the sauce.
• Garlic: Garlic adds a pop of flavor.
• Olive oil: Olive oil is for sautéing the onion, garlic and spices as well as the tomatoes. It also adds nice flavor. You can substitute any other neutral oil if you prefer.
• Seasoning (dried dill, ground cumin, black pepper, salt, allspice, bay leaves): bright fragrant notes from dried dill and garlic cloves, earthiness from summer savory and warming notes from bay leaves, black pepper, allspice and cumin.

Equipment

You will need a medium-sized oven-safe roasting pan with a lid that can go from stovetop to oven. I used my Le Creuset braiser which is pictured and has a 3.3 liter / 3.5 quart capacity.

If you don't have a good-sized pan with a lid then just cover with aluminum foil.

Instructions

Sauté the diced yellow onion and minced garlic in the olive oil over medium-high heat until lightly browned. Add the tomato and seasonings and reduce heat to simmer while you prepare and stuff the leeks.

Combine all the filling ingredients together in a bowl - if the mixture is very crumbly and not adhering together, then use a fork to mash the chickpeas a bit until the mixture holds together.

Cut the green tops off the leeks but try to keep them as long as possible. Use a knife to make a shallow cut in the sheath enough to be able to peel one leaf off. Repeat until the end then thoroughly wash each leaf.

Heat a large pot of water on the stovetop. Blanche the leeks in batches for 20-30 seconds each until they soften. Set aside in a bowl.

Lay out the leek leaves - the larger ones should be big enough to stuff but you can line up a few of the smaller ones together (slightly overlapping).

Spoon a few tablespoons of the filling onto each leek as shown in the photos (imagine the bottom of the leek as a square made up of two triangles - then fill the top triangle of that square with filling).

Gently wrap the leek around the stuffing - don't worry if it isn't perfectly sealed.

Lay each stuffed leeks out in the tomato sauce in the roasting pan.

After you've stuffed all the leeks, cover with lid or aluminum foil and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes.

Serving Suggestion

I served these vegetarian stuffed leeks with Mediterranean vegetable pilaf plus a dollop of dill garlic yogurt sauce for an unbelievably flavorful plant-forward meal.

Related

Looking for more Mediterranean recipe inspiration? Maybe you'll like one of these:

Recipe