I’m trying really hard to eat more veggies and more legumes, so when my vegetarian (and super talented commercial photographer) friend Jen cooked me a chickpea and spinach curry for dinner the other week, I had to quiz her for the recipe.
She laughed.
I promised I would blog in exchange and credit her – so here you are Jen, and THANK YOU!
I modified it slightly as I had an eggplant in the fridge, and not a whole lot of spinach.
It’s a quick and easy to prepare one pot meal, which is my favourite way to cook and eat. Especially when I’m away and The Accountant isn’t here to do the dishes 🙂
Eggplant and chickpea curry
By Mel Kettle, The cook’s notebook
Inspired by Jen Dainer
Serves 3-4
What you need
- 1 tsp each of cumin seed, mustard seed, turmeric and garam masala
- 1 tbs vegetable oil (I used olive as that was all I had)
- 1 onion, peeled and diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely diced
- 1 eggplant, diced into smallish pieces (so it cooks more quickly)
- 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 can tomatoes (I used diced)
- a handful or two of baby spinach leaves
- steamed, rice, plain yogurt and fresh coriander to serve
What you do
Dry fry the cumin seeds and mustard seeds in a frypan on medium to hot heat for about 1-2 minutes. WATCH THEM so they don’t burn (spoken from experience here…). Once they start to smell more fragrant, remove from heat and pop into a small bowl.
Return the frypan to the stove, turn the heat to medium, add the oil and garlic, fry until the onion is soft (about 3-4 minutes). Add the eggplant and cook for about 5 minutes until the eggplant is getting a little soft. You may need to add some more oil.
Add all the spices (cumin, mustard seed, turmeric and garam masala) and give a good stir. Add the chickpeas, tomato and 1/2 can of water. Stir, cover with a lid, turn the heat down and let simmer for about 20 minutes until the eggplant is cooked through. You may need to add more water if it starts to look dry.
After about 20 minutes add the spinach and mix through. Cook for another few minutes until the spinach has wilted.
Serve with steamed rice, yogurt and coriander.
This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled and it freezes well.
What are your go-to recipes for eating more veggies and legumes?
Hi Mel, yes I did laugh. Because ‘recipe’ is such a strong word to use when describing how things find their way to my cookware, then on to my plate 🙂 Your version looks delicious! Jen