Darshana Thacker Wendel
Darshana Thacker Wendel is a whole-food, plant-based chef and former culinary projects manager for Forks Over Knives. A graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute, she is the author of Forks Over Knives: Flavor! She created the recipes for Forks Over Knives Family and was a lead recipe contributor to the New York Times bestseller The Forks Over Knives Plan. Her recipes have been published in The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook, Forks Over Knives—The Cookbook, Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health, and LA Yoga magazine online. Visit DarshanasKitchen.com and follow her on Instagram for more.
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Comments (34)
Another one that has some serious potential.
This dish could have benefited from herbs.
Since it had the smoked paprika (and tomatoes at the end) I felt it had a base of cuisine from Spain. I chose oregano. I much prefer fresh, but if you have dried, it will do. (if you use dried, add it right to the 1 1/2 cups of milk so it starts hydrating right away.) If fresh, add it when you add the milk in the directions.
Add a bay leaf. That will also help infuse the milk while it’s heating up and thickening.
Although it calls for garlic powder already, I enhance it with a couple of cloves of fresh garlic cloves. (Just increase the powder by 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon if you don’t feel like chopping fresh garlic.)
Increase the acid. The vinegar is fine but increase the amount to 2 TBlsp spoons. So either use more vinegar even better. Juice a lemon and add the fresh juice to the sauce. I think it will taste a bit more “Fresh” if you omit the vinegar and just use lemon only as your acid.
You really have to know your own tolerance for spice. Many comments said that this wasn’t flavorful, but I used the exact amount, and thought it was too much. When I make this the next time, I will use less paprika and chili. And I might even wait and not put it in until I am thickening the sauce. You are totally stuck if you add it in the beginning. I wound up adding more milk and a bit of nutritional yeast. We liked this overall, and will try it again. I think it would also be great with peas instead of broccoli.
Surprisingly delicious and it keeps me satiated. Definitely was not expecting for it to be as good as I thought it would be. This dish is always in rotation, even my Wife likes it.
How much oat milk am I supposed to use? It’s not listed in the ingredients list.
1 1/2 cups
Thank goodness I read the reviews before making! The casserole sauce is VERY bland. You’ll need to jazz it up a lot. I added a can of diced tomatoes, nutritional yeast and significantly more spices, and it still was too bland for me. I topped it with whole grain bread crumbs for a little crispy top and added some hot sauce when plated. If you like flavor you can def make a rendition of this but you’ll need to put your own twist on it. It was delicious after I doctored it!
Agreed. FOK recipes are often too healthy for their own good. I added lots of salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast. The nooch really did it for me as I was expecting a “cheesier” sauce.
FYI I have found that almost all the plant-based recipes do not have enough herbs and spices so I always ramp up what’s listed as well as adding my own choices.
I am interested in trying this for the holidays. Can you make this ahead freeze the dish?
do you drain the chickpeas?
Hi Maria, yes, you should drain and rinse the chickpeas. I’m sorry we left that note out originally. We’ve updated the recipe accordingly. Thank you!
I doubled up on the spices based on all the comments, I added cumin and italian seasoning, I steamed the broccoli in the microwave for 1 minute, mixed everything together before putting it in the casserole dish, mashed the chickpeas before adding, added nutritional yeast, cut up a large heirloom tomato and used half in the mix for oven and half on top after baking, and used mirin (or white wine) in place of some of the water. Seemed to result in a tasty, creamy mixture.
I like the idea of adding tomato inside as well as on top. Thanks for the tip!
Overall this recipe turned out quite tasty. I don’t have a steamer basket, so I just steamed the broccoli in the microwave for 4 minutes, and it worked great! I used red pepper chili flakes, and only a few flakes, because I didn’t have chili powder. The recipe did say to add salt and pepper and taste, which I did to make it not so bland. At the end of baking, I added yellow pepper instead of tomato and it was delicious. I made it in a regular size Corningware casserole dish and I will make this again.
Does a plant-based diet mean “no flavor”? This recipe sounded so promising, but as soon as I started making the sauce, I could tell it was going to be disappointing. Yes, it will fill your tummy, but your tastebuds will be left thinking, “That’s it? After all that chopping and whisking and 4 pans to wash?”
I love broccoli. Brown rice and garbanzos are great. But this recipe needs WAY more seasoning. Especially salt and pepper, but perhaps basil? Italian seasonings? Red pepper flakes? Something, it really needs something. Get creative with the sauce, and you might have a winner. If you’re a fan of blah beige food, though, you’ll like it just fine.
Totally agree. Taste like dry broccoli and rice. Way too much effort with no compliments. Deleted this one and won’t make it again.
Umph, umph, umph….
This recipe must be for advanced cooks.
It did not state the size of the dish and it took 30-40 minutes before the rice dish was done.
Taste okay and did not look like the picture.
Do the oats have to be blitzed or can they be used whole?
Souns fantastic, I’m going to try it
PLEASE PLEASE make your ingredient measurements use friendly for Europe – we don’t use cups and fl oz. as you are sending recipes to us in Europe and the U.K. please use a converter on your computers to convert to grams
Otherwise it is difficult to use your delicious sounding recipes here in Europe
Thanks
Hi Fleur. I feel your pain. When I’m in Europe I have trouble converting to metrics. 1 cup dry = 250 mL; 1 cup fluid is 8 fluid ounces = 250 mL; 12 fluid ounces = 1 1/2 cups = 375 mL; 1 teaspoon = 5 mL; 1/2 teaspoon = 2 mL; 1/4 teaspoon = 1 mL; 1 tablespoon = 15 mL. I hope this helps. Remember when you see an American struggling please help them out.
Not creamy enough. Double the cream sauce and mix everything together first, then place it in casserole dish to bake. The rice mix is dry at the bottom and middle.. That’s what I would do next time
Can’t wait to try it. Not much of a meat eater, love the plant food ideas.
Great recipe, but in future can we have the ingredients in metric too?
Maybe this will help: a measuring cup is equal to 8 ounces or 240 ml.
I say the same thing when I read recipes in metic. I have an app called Units that I use to make the needed adjustments so I can make a recipe.
Totally agree – just posted a comment asking for metric measurement.
We In Europe have no idea what “cups “ are – tea cup, mug, huge cup, espresso cup ??????
Loved the dish, but am going to add more chili powder and paprika to spice it up a bit like suggested.
I’m not much of a cook (I am taking the FOK PBWF food cooking course) but I’m wondering if a plant based flour could be substituted for the oatmeal flour? I have a pestle and mortar, but still couldn’t make the oatmeal fine enough to be a flour.
Anyhow, I’m going to try the flour and see how it does!
If you have a high speed blender put old fashioned rolled oats into it and blend on high for perfect oatmeal flour
Very nice, rather like a risotto. The chilli was a touch hot but the tomato took the edge off it.
The flavors in this are great, but I found that the broccoli was overcooked and mushy by the time the casserole was done. When I made it again, I chose to omit the broccoli and serve it on the side.
Literally only steam the broccoli for 3 min by adding it to the steamer when the water is boiling high and it turns a vibrant green, then take it off heat and use it. Should not turn to mush then…
My husband surprised me with this for lunch today. It’s all about the smoked paprika. We will certainly make this again.
Karyn you are so right. I’m not sure I even let it go 3 minutes. Broccoli should be tender-crisp, not mushy! After I cooked it, I rinsed it in cold water to stop it from continuing to cook. I’d also use fresh garlic instead of garlic powder.