Chickpea Curry

Trying to eat more veggie dinners isn’t that hard once you add lots of flavour & spices. Some of my favourite curries are actually veggie curries and when I went to India in 2007 I actually found myself accidentally eating only vegetarian, as I didn’t like the meat over there. This is a great staple curry and goes great with naan, basmati rice or chapati. Who said veggie is boring?

Ingredients

Serves 5 | 345 calories per serving (no rice)

• 1 large onion (thinly sliced)

• 1 red pepper (quartered & sliced)

• 3 cloves garlic (minced)

• thumb sized piece of ginger (grated/chopped fine)

• handful fresh coriander (chopped)

• 3 tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil

• 2 large handfuls fresh spinach

• 1 tin tomato 400g

• 2 400g tin chickpeas (drained & rinsed)

• 1 tbsp ground coriander

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 2 tsp paprika

• 1 tsp turmeric

• 1 tbsp garam masala

• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1 tsp toasted cumin seeds (optional)

• Juice of a lemon

• 2 tsp caster sugar

• Salt & pepper to taste

• 500ml water

• 1 red chilli (finely chopped)

Method

1. Heat oil over medium heat and add onion & red pepper until slightly softened (about 5-7 minutes)

2. If using cumin seeds, toast them now on a dry pan and set aside once fragrant.

3. Once vegetables are softened, add the garlic, chilli & ginger. Stir for a minute or 2.

4. Add in your spices & fresh coriander. Immediately followed by the water after stirring as spices will burn easily. (add in your toasted cumin seeds now too if using)

5. Stir and add in your chopped tomato, spinach, sugar & chickpea. Don’t forget to drain your chickpeas and run them under cold water.

6. Simmer on a low heat for 40mins / until thickened.

7. Serve with some basmati rice or naan and give everyone a slice of lemon to squeeze over top.