Curry Chickpea Stew

Well happy Monday, I hope it treated everyone well. Mine was okay, but I felt pretty scattered at work trying to get back into the grind while mentally preparing for the holidays. Monday’s aren’t typically my most productive days, so adding a layer of holiday complication did not help! Luckily I got it together by dinner time. :-) Last night I threw a cup of dried chickpeas in the fridge to soak overnight with no real idea of what I was going to do with it, I figured I’d cross that bridge when I got there. :-) When I got home, I was craving something curry and hot and hit AllRecipes for inspiration. Well, hammering chickpeas into the ingredients for main dishes only produced 25 recipes and I wasn’t feeling most of them either missing too many of the ingredients or the recipes taking way too long for a week night. This was the only one that peeked my interest to veganize and economize for what I had in the kitchen. As is, it seemed like a gut bomb to me packing ground meat and chickpeas. And I didn’t have canned coconut milk or canned tomatoes. But I do have fresh tomatoes, shredded coconut and a blender so here we go!

Curry Chickpea Stew

• 1 tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
• 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
• 2 medium roma tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tbsp. curry powder
• 1/4 cup dried, shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 eggplant, chopped
• 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 2 cups cauliflower, chopped
• 4 cups water

Heat sesame oil, onion and garlic in a large soup pot over medium heat until onions are transparent.

Meanwhile, place tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, coconut, curry and water into a high speed blender and blend until thoroughly mixed.

Pour blender contents into the soup pot.

Add chickpeas and bring mixture to a boil.

Reduce to medium heat, add eggplant, cauliflower, cilantro and nutritional yeast. Simmer covered for 40 minutes.

Then serve. Makes 4-6 servings.

I used romanesco broccoli in place of the cauliflower because it’s a lot like it texture and taste wise and I still had some left from our last CSA box.

The curry flavor was great accented with a mild coconut flavor and the varying texture of the eggplant, cauliflower/broccoli and chickpeas made it a filling and satisfying stew with and underlying creamy flavor thanks to the nutritional yeast. Some may want to add more salt, I tend to be an under salter figuring it can be added at the table if needed. :-) It’s a great soup base to throw just about any veggies into – carrots, celery, peppers, and whatever else you need to use up. If you’re a curry fan, give this one-pot meal a try.