Meatless Monday with Creamy Spicy Black Chickpea Curry with Potatoes

Hello and welcome (back) to the Miratel blog for another Meatless Monday. We took the Meatless Monday pledge as part of our CSR business initiatives in support of reducing meat consumption one day per week (15%) to improve the health of people and the planet.

In the colder months, soups, stews and curries are the perfect way to get a warming and hearty meal that can also be nutritious and today’s recipe is perfect on all fronts. This recipe for Creamy Spicy Black Chickpea Curry with Potatoes is thick and rich yet still manages to be light and healthy by using coconut milk and coconut oil. You can adjust the chili powder to your palate so if you like it hot, feel free to add more. Our recipe comes courtesy of Love Food Eat – a great website full of wonderful recipes, photos and stories.

Image courtesy of lovefoodeat.com

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 1 ½ cups of dry black chickpeas (can be substituted with regular chick peas)
• 1 cup finely chopped tomatoes
• 1 ½ cups of cubed potatoes
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 tsp chili powder
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tbsp coconut oil

Whole spices

• 20 peppercorns
• 4 cardamoms
• 1 star anise
• 2 inches of cinnamon
• 10 cloves

Directions

1. Soak the dry black chickpeas for 4-5 hours or overnight. Discard the water. Add fresh water and 1 tsp of salt and cook it till soft (I used the pressure cooker).
2. Boil the cubed potatoes with a pinch of salt till soft.
3. Combine coconut milk with chili powder, cumin and turmeric in a bowl.
4. Heat oil in a pan. Add the whole spices. Fry in low flame till fragrant.
5. Add the finely chopped tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. Tomatoes should start falling apart and get soft and juicy. Now add the boiled potatoes. Continue to cook.
6. Keep about half a cup of chickpeas aside and add the remaining chickpeas in to the curry.
7. Mash the chickpea you kept aside well with a spoon and add it to the curry. This will give a body to the gravy and make it thick. Boil the curry for 2-3 minutes.
8. Now reduce the flame and add the coconut milk with the spices to the curry slowly. Season with salt. Simmer the curry for 5 minutes for all the flavors come together. Serve with rice or roti.

We encourage you to visit the Meatless Monday website and join us in taking the pledge to reduce meat consumption one day per week. It’s easy with simple and delicious recipes like this one. Spread the word at work to promote the value of CSR business initiatives and make your green call centre, office, factory, shop, restaurant, hotel or salon even greener.

Enjoy!
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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.