Spinach and Chickpea curry

A creamy curry with a good kick, perfect for a winter's dinner, lunch or super to keep you warm and satisfied. And for a bonus it's pretty darn healthy.

I tempted you with a picture of this curry in last week's WIAW, and I'm finally getting around to sharing the recipe with you. I ate gobbled the last portion of the curry yesterday after my horse riding lesson.

You will need...

[Serves 3 - 4]

1 tin/can/packet organic chickpeas in water (approx 400g)
5 large handfuls of spinach
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 large white onion
1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon dry chilies
1/2 teaspoon dried ginger
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 pint hot vegetable stock (I used 2 reduced salt stock cubes disolved in boiling water)
1 1/2 teaspoons stevia
3 tablespoons tomato puree
120ml (1/2 cup) unsweetened almond milk
120 ml (1/2 cup) coconut milk

It's cooking time...

Heat the oil in a frying pan, while that's hotting up, chop the onion. You don't have to chop it neatly. Life is too short to chop onions perfectly. Once the oil is hot throw the onions in and cook for a couple of minutes on a medium heat.

Grab a pestle and mortar and grinde together the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, dry chilies, ginger, garam masala and smoked paprika. Make sure there are no whole coriander and cumin seeds. Once your spices are ground, sprinkle them over the top of the onions and cook for a further couple of minutes.

Now it's time to thrown in the spinach. Once the greens have started to wilt down, drain the chickpeas and add them to the pan along with the hot stock and tomato puree. Let the curry cook for about 6 minutes. Tomato puree needs time to cook otherwise it can be bitter. Then add the almond milk, stevia and cinnamon and let the curry cook for about five minutes. Pour in the coconut milk and let the curry cook for a further 5 - 10 minutes on a medium - low heat until the chickpeas are nice and soft. Turn down the heat a little if you feel it might burn.

This spinach and chickpea curry is hearty and wholesome. It has a warm earthy taste from the spices, which marries with the creaminess of the coconut milk. Each mouthful is comforting and warm. I orginally wasn't going to add coconut milk, but I felt the curry was a little too firey. The coconut milk was the finishing touch which rounded the dish off to perfection. I would definately make this again, and a bigger batch next time.

It tastes really good with steamed veggies, but if you wanted to be a bit more traditional you could pair it with rice. It would also work with sweet potato.