Turmeric image by Steven Jackson, via Flickr CC license
Chickpea Curry
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 approximately 2-inch piece of ginger, grated
2 teaspoons Sweet Curry powder
1 teaspoon Penzeys Curry Now powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 (15 oz ) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed (smash one can with a fork)
28 oz can, petite diced tomatoes
1 can full fat coconut milk
2-3 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 – 1 teaspoon salt
Chopped fresh cilantro
Directions
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
Add onions, salt; sautè until translucent, about 6 minutes stirring every now and then. Add garlic and sautè for 1 more minute.
Add ginger and all the spices; sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add diced tomatoes then chickpeas.
Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
Stir in coconut milk and simmer for 5 more minutes.
In a small bowl mix cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water. Stir in the chickpea mixture and cook for 5 more minutes or until thickened.
Take a taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
Remove from the heat, sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro.
Serve over basmati or brown rice.
I made this recipe for the first time this evening for our dinner. The balance and depth of flavors was very good. Most of the ingredients are easy to have on had, with the exception of the fresh cilantro (which seems to go bad in just a few days — or is it me?).
This is a quick and easy, delicious (meatless) curry.
I like this recipe because I can keep the ingredients on hand pretty easily. It has a very good balance of flavors, and it leaves me feeling healthy and good about what I ate.
I highly recommend using Penzey’s spices. It really makes a difference.
Chickpea and Mango Curry
1 T. vegetable oil (peanut is good)
1 T. butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 heaping T. curry powder (I used Penzey’s Sweet Curry)
1/2 tsp. salt
Two 15 oz. cans of chickpeas, drain and rinse
2 heaping cups of frozen mango chunks (about 12 oz.) (I used a bag of Dole frozen mango chunks)
chopped cilantro
1/3 c. plain yogurt (optional, but I like it this way)
A few dashes of cayenne pepper
Cooked, hot Basmati rice
1. Heat oil and butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onion soften it a bit, then add curry powder, and salt. Cook for about 5 min. until onion begins to brown.
2. Add rinsed and drained chickpeas to skillet, stirring until coated with curry-onion mixture. Turn heat to medium low and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Add dash of cayenne. Add water if needed.
3. Stir in the frozen mango (or fresh if you have access to good fruit) , bring to a boil, then cover and let simmer, covered for 5 more minutes. Check to see if the curry needs more liquid to create a sauce. If it does, then add up to 1/2 cup of water. Add the chopped cilantro now, but save a little to sprinkle on top at the end. Cover again and cook for 10 minutes or until it looks good!
4. If you have the patience and time, take it off the burner let it sit off the heat for 10 more minutes for the flavors to develop. I added 1/3 c. of plain yogurt before letting it sit. (If you are in a hurry, it is okay to eat it now. We often do.)
Curry in the spice-bazaar (egypitan) in Istanbul (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Serve over Basmati rice with a dusting of cayenne on top. Serve w/ lime wedges to squeeze over the top and a bit more chopped cilantro, too.
Some possible variations: use peaches instead of mangoes, top with finely diced scallions, top with toasted cashews or roasted peanuts.
Aloo gobi, an Indian dish prepared with cauliflower and potato (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Another of my favorite curry recipes is the Aloo Gobi from the special feature reel of the “Bend It Like Beckham” DVD. Here is the written recipe. You can watch the video from youtube below if you have about 15 minutes. It is very entertaining. I love to watch the mother and the grandmother supervising the daughter. Good stuff! (and I’m not just talking about the curry).
In the last few years I have grown to enjoy three-bean salad. You know, the kind my Mom likes — with kidney beans, green beans and wax beans, etc. in a sweet vinegary dressing?
I definitely did NOT like this type of salad when I was younger, but I must have acquired the taste for it somewhere along the line because I often make it now.
Recently, we were getting ready to grill brats (which is practically a required summer activity in Wisconsin), and I suddenly realized I didn’t have anything for a side dish. I thought of making three bean salad, and went to my pantry cupboard to see if I had all the ingredients. Well, I had most everything but not all the “usual” ingredients — so I’ll share what I came up with because I think it turned out to be very tasty.
Ingredients:
1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas 1 (15 oz.) can green beans 1 (15 oz.) can wax beans (yellowish, light green beans) 12 oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts (quartered or chopped is fine) 1 cucumber (peeled, seeded, diced) 1 small onion (diced) Red onion is pretty if you have it. (if I had had celery or green pepper I would have diced them and added that, too)
Drain all the canned ingredients. Rinse the beans. You could decide not to drain the artichokes (and just add the marinade to the dressing) but I didn’t do that this time. Combine all the above ingredients in a large bowl and mix gently.
In a small to medium-sized bowl combine these ingredients for the dressing:
1/4 c olive oil 1/4 c red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon yellow mustard (any kind is fine) 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
That is it.
If you have time to make this ahead and chill it, the flavor would be even better. I sometimes use fresh green beans or a bag of frozen green beans (cooked and chilled); they taste better than canned.
Suggested tweaks: Next time I might add some kalamata or green pimento stuffed olives. Maybe dill or a little garlic? A squirt of lemon juice?
The original recipe calls for 1 can (15 oz.) dark red kidney beans in place of the artichokes and doesn’t have the cucumber. But now that I’ve had three bean salad with cucumber and artichokes, I really like them in there. I would add them AND the kidney beans next time. In the past, I’ve also added other kind of beans I’ve had on had such as butter beans (which my Mom loves), baby limas, black beans, pinto beans, etc. If you add several more kinds of beans, you will need to double the dressing recipe and scale up the other ingredients as well (onion, celery, etc.)
I hope you enjoy this Tromp Queen tweak to traditional Three Bean Salad.
Please let me know if you try it and how you like it!
Yet another simple addition: Pasta! (and maybe shredded carrots, too?)
The best Falafel sandwich I have ever had was near the British Museum in London. There was a little sandwich shop just around the corner from the main entrance. The falafel was declicious, but the “fixins” were wonderfully fresh, crisp and flavourful. (Spelled it the British way for good measure, there!)
I looked at Google maps in that area around the British Museum and the best possibilities are Salt and Pepper (5 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3QE, England) or Bimbimbab Cafe (37 Museum Street, London WC1A 1LP, England). The menu and reviews at Salt and Pepper remind me more of the cafe, but the photo of Bimbimbab’s interior also looks familiar. It was not a Korean restaurant at the time if that is indeed the place we had falafel. It was 2008, so it is not likely I can solve this mystery now (unless someone in London can shed light on my memory!)
I’ve looked for a good recipe to try to recreate this memorable sandwich. The closest so far is a recipe from Rachael Ray.
My daughter and I made Rachael Ray’s Falafel Burgers recipe for dinner tonight.
We tweaked the recipe a bit so I thought I’d share our results and thoughts here.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. We used about 1 t. salt and 1/2 t. black pepper.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil for frying.
Combine these ingredients (above) in a large food processor. You might need to do 1 can of chickpeas and 1/2 the other ingredients at a time, then blend it all together in a bowl. We found the full amount to be too much for my Cuisinart. If the mixture seems too dry to hold together, add a little more olive oil. If it seems too wet — don’t even add the olive oil and/or add more flour.
Divide the chickpea mixture into 8 parts. Form into patties. Dredge lightly in flour.
Heat plenty of extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet. You need 1/4 c. or so of oil or sometimes more depending on how large your skillet is.
Fry the falafel patties about 3-4 min. on each side or until lightly browned and heated through. You can use more oil and completely deep fry them, but I think pan frying tastes good and uses so much less oil
To make the sauce combine the following in a small bowl:
1/4 cup tahini paste
2 tablespoons water (or more if needed)
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Prepare the “fixins” for serving:
4 sandwich-size whole wheat pita pockets (cut in half, warm in oven or toast lightly)
1-1 1/2 cups romaine lettuce, shredded
1/2 English (seedless) cucumber; peel, de-seed, quarter, slice and dice
chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; a large handful
2 vine-ripe tomatoes, sliced or garden fresh cherry tomatoes (cut into halves or fourths)
(In the street falafel photo below, I see he is offering radishes, jalapeno slices and lemon wedges, and possibly baby spinach, too. It is difficult to see — but I think the idea is toppings galore and whatever you crave!)
To serve:
Fill 1/2 a warmed pita with fixins, sauce and falafel. Have plenty of napkins ready. Sometimes I end up eating it with a fork.
image by Daniel Roy, via Flickr CC; falafel stand in Aleppo, Syria.
REVIEW:
I’ve made this recipe several times. The biggest issue is getting the consistency right so the falafel doesn’t fall apart in the skillet.
The fixings are important. Use fresh and local if possible; organic always tastes better to me, too. Maybe that is just in my head, though.
The original recipe calls for twice as many spices and several quite expensive ones. I have used 1/2 the amounts in the RR recipe and it was good. This is the first time we used the Sweet Curry instead of all the cumin, coriander and turmeric. Feel free, of course, to adjust the spice levels to your taste.
OVERALL: FIVE OUT OF FIVE FORKS!!
Highly recommended.
Please let me know if you try this recipe, how it turned out, and if you enjoyed it.
The Tromp Queen COOKS! 