Caution  Addictive.  Try it to believe.  This was inspired by a vegan dish I ate during the food truck event organized by the Divine Mercy Academy in Monroeville Pa. The delicious dish was prepared by Veggies N'at that specializes in vegan soul food. It is a catering and food order company in Pittsburgh.   (see their version below).

This is a close version and just as alluring.  The buffalo chickpeas can be placed over nothing or mac and cheese or chili.  You can adjust the heat level and other flavors.  I love adding sun dried tomatoes for added texture and flavor.

I prepared it two ways, raw or cooked. As far as taste is concerned the easy raw approach is sufficient.  The color is anemic but still addictive. (see photo below)  

To approximate the color of the Veggies N'at version of the dish I resorted to a second mode wherein I heated the mixture of ingredients and then added tapioca starch as thickener.  I prefer to add the chopped sun dried tomatoes at this point.

Buffalo Chickpeas with Sun Dried Tomatoes Over Mac and Cheese

Inspired by what I ate prepared by Veggies N'at at a food truck event

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas

1-2 tbsp each hot sauce and sriracha 

1 2 tbsp vegan mayo or vegan yogurt

1 tsp maple syrup optional

2-3 pieces Sun dried tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp tapioca or corn starch (if using cooked version)

Prepared Mac and Cheese (see recipe)

Instructions

    Raw version

 Mix all ingredients from chickpeas to sun dried tomatoes and place over prepared mac and cheese.

    Cooked version

Place chickpeas,  hot sauce,  sriracha,  vegan mayo or yogurt, maple syrup if using in a small saucepan and  mix.  Heat mixture in saucepan to a gentle boil with stirring then add  tapioca starch suspended in 2 tbsp water and mix with stirring up to desired thickness.  Remove from heat and add the sun dried tomatoes if using.  Serve over prepared mac and cheese.