Monday, January 18, 2010

Chickpea and Spinach Curry

Last year, when I became pescatarian for Lent, I went through and bookmarked a bunch of vegetarian recipes from Epicurious. Occasionally, when I'm looking for inspiration, I remember those recipes and revisit them. This time I realized that I had the makings for one of the dishes and put it on the menu. Better yet, it even used the slow-cooker, though it could be adjusted for the stovetop. Based on some of the reviews, I bumped up some of the spices and added more, but it was still a tad on the bland side. Next time I would add more garam masala, curry powder, and cayenne powder. The website calls this "spicy", but there was almost no heat!

Chickpea and Spinach Curry
adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients
  • 2 cups dried chickpeas, picked over
  • 8 cups baby spinach leaves
  • 2 (15-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
  • 2 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
Preparation

In large bowl, combine chickpeas and enough cold water to cover by two inches. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Drain chickpeas, then combine in slow cooker with 1 cup water. Cover and cook on high, stirring occasionally, until just tender, 3 to 4 hours. Add spinach, tomatoes and their juices, coriander, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, curry, cayenne, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and pepper. Reduce heat to low and cook 1 hour more. Sprinkle in remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, stir in cilantro and serve.

3 comments:

SoundsLikeCanada said...

I get frustrated with meals that have a bunch of spices/flavors that you should be able to taste and then they taste kind of bland. Thanks for the tip about adding more the spices - I think I still want to give this a try.

Anonymous said...

This is the kind of recipe that warms you from the bones. Thanks!!

Evelyn said...

I picked up a slow cooker for cheap at a garage sale, but I haven't used it yet. This looks like a good inaugural dish.