A warming curry of Potatoes and Chickpeas for a cold drizzly November’s day

It must be officially fall because the temperatures have plummeted and the rains have set in, the skies are grey and the wind is noisy. Kind’a depressing weather, and it certainly doesn’t inspire so I wasn’t up to menu planning; but paging through a local grocery chain’s fall 2010 issue, JT found a recipe he thought he would like to have to spice up our weekly meal plan. We’re making chickpea and potato curry. Now I don’t usually gravitate toward potato recipes, but I was totally uninspired in making the menu this week and decided to just go for it, potatoes and all. Next time, I would add a handful of sultana raisins to add the sweetness this curry was missing. Or alternatively I think I’ll try this with sweet potatoes or even butternut squash as I think the sweetness of the sweet potato or butternut squash would be heavenly with the curry.
Do you meal plan? I generally plan out the entire week on Sunday and do the groceries Sunday afternoon. I always make enough for lunches for the following day. The planning makes my head want to explode for an hour or so but then I don’t have to think about it! I store the plan on the iCloud in my Reminders app on my iPhone and that way I have it no matter where I am (because if I’m having fish on Thursday I’ll need to pick it up from my fishmonger that day and my Reminders will remind me!)
The dish comes together reasonably quickly and cooks in about 30 minutes. I think it took me 10 minutes to prep everything (mise en place) so 40 minutes tops. And I am sure you can do this in the slow cooker, I would choose low and cook for 4-5 hours (just remember to heat the curry powder in a lightly oiled frying pan before you add it to revive the flavours). The starch in the potato makes a very nice and creamy sauce. In the recipe below I cut the potatoes down to half, as I just didn’t want as many carbs. The method for preparing the onions is a little unconventional, but it worked out very flavourful.

Warm with a touch of heat is nice when it’s blistery cold outside

Chickpea and Potato Curry

Original recipe can be found in Longos Fall 2010 magazine or here.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 vidalia onion, halved
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped roughly
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated finely with a microplane
• 1 small hot chili pepper, halved and seeded
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 1 tbsp mild curry powder or paste
• 3 cups water
• 3/4 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed small (about 2 potatoes)
• 1 can (19 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 tbsp garam masala
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
• 1-2 cups greens (arugula or spinach) per person

Directions:

1. In your immersion blender, purée onion, garlic, ginger and chili pepper into a fine paste (you can do this in a mini processor too, but I find the immersion blender does a finer job).
2. In a large deep skillet, heat oil and cook onion paste for about 5 minutes or until softened.
3. Stir in curry powder and cook for 1 minute.
4. Add 2 cups of the water and stir to make a gravy consistency (it was actually quite liquid/soupy for me).
5. Add the potatoes; cover and cook, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender but firm.
6. Add chickpeas, garam masala and remaining water and cook for 10 minutes or until thickened and potatoes are very tender.
7. Serve on a bed of greens, sprinkled with chopped cilantro.

Read Full Post »

Deconstructed Hummus from my friend Charles @ Five Euro Food

What goes around comes around right? My friend Charles at Five Euro Food posted this recipe last week and coincidentally I was just thinking about making a chick pea salad for dinner, so I thought, why not his recipe? His recipe incorporated all the flavours I love in Hummus but he made it into a delightful summer salad; and with the heat wave we’ve been having, it’s a perfect summertime dish (well, maybe not declared perfect by guest, but certainly perfect in my mind!). Of course, I didn’t have time to get to the green grocer, so I used vegetables I had on hand, which is exactly what Charles had prescribed.

I actually made it with two rather healthy sized cloves of garlic, and woe, it was strong; in fact, so strong, I had to rinse a portion off for JT so he doesn’t offend his customers! I ate mine full octane, because, well, it’s been rather slow these last couple of weeks so I just thought, what the heck! I’ll be eating the entire parsley plant later!

I took a bit of artistic license by adding roasted red and yellow peppers and tomatoes

Deconstructed Hummus Salad

A recipe from Five Euro Food, slightly altered.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 540 mL (19 oz) chick peas
• 1-2 mini cucumbers, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 each roasted red and yellow peppers, cut into small cubes
• 1 green onion, finely chopped
• 1 jalopeño, finely chopped
• 2 oven roasted tomatoes, diced (please see this post for oven roasting tomatoes; because of the heat, I did it on the BBQ)

Dressing Ingredients:

• 30 mL (2 tbsp) EVOO
• 59 mL (1/4 cup) lemon juice
• 1 small clove garlic, finely minced
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Combine the dressing ingredients and set aside.
2. Combine the vegetables and chick peas and mix well. Drizzle with the dressing and serve immediately. If you wish the vegetables to mix with the dressing in advance, I would suggest leaving out the cucumber until serving as it tends to get a bit on the mushy side.
3. Serve over greens or spinach, as below.

It was a light, refreshing and garlicy dinner. Lunch will be wonderful tomorrow.

Read Full Post »

Barb’s Fassolada (Greek Bean Soup)

My friend Barb of Profiteroles and Ponytials made this recipe a few days ago, and I knew I had to have it. Barb and I have been friends a really long time, and I think she blogs to get my taste buds going, in fact, I’m sure that’s what it is. I was doing a vegetarian week last week and when I saw this soup, I thought, perfect. Plus JT made it, so it was super easy for me! We are not big potato eaters in our house so we substituted the potatoes for Chick Peas, and it made it a bit heartier too. Another winner, Mrs. Barbie, thank you!

Fassolada (Barb’s Greek Bean Soup)

Ingredients:

• 1-½  cups navy beans, dried
• 6-½ cups water
• 1/2 cup carrots, diced (we had some in the fridge, otherwise I might have omitted this too)
• 3 celery stalks, diced
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup chick peas, canned
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1-½ cups crushed low sodium tomato sauce (we love the Italian brands, they have an incredibly low sodium rate)
• 1- ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp oregano (preferably Greek)

Optional Garnish:

• Greek Yogurt with smoked paprika sprinkled over it.

Directions:

1. Place the beans in a bowl, cover completely with water, and let them soak overnight.
2. Drain and rinse beans. Place in a large stock pot and cover with water. Bring to boil over high heat for 10 minutes.
3. Drain beans in a strainer and return to pot. Add water, carrots, celery, onion, red pepper flakes and bay leaf. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
4. Remove bay leaf and add tomato sauce, salt and olive oil and cook for another 45 minutes to 1 hour (until beans are tender). Add the chick peas and heat through.
5. Taste and adjust seasoning, if required.
6. Serve in bowls with a dollop of Greek Yogurt and smoked paprika.

A hearty and filling soup; a great alternative to meat, but bacon would have gone so well with it...

Read Full Post »