Chickpea Curry & Coconut Rice

I really burned myself out on curries for a while but I'm back, baby! I didn't know what sounded good, so I just kept adding shit until it tasted exactly how I wanted. It's a mishmash of all my favorite things, and damn was it tasty as hell!

I read somewhere recently about cooking rice in coconut milk for some good flavor. I love coconut milk and I love rice, so there was no way I couldn't fall passionately in obsession with it. I highly recommend making the coconut rice to go with the curry. Recipe: 1 cup uncooked rice to 1 can of lite coconut milk. You won't regret it.

Makes 4 large portions.

What you need:

• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 2 cups cauliflower florets (I steamed mine to cut cooking time down)
• 1 cup diced onion
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1 slightly heaped cup roasted cashews, but raw is great too
• 4 large button mushrooms cut into wedges
• 1 very large handful baby spinach, shredded or chopped
• 1-2 TB grapeseed oil
• curry powder, a few TB
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4-1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• salt to taste

 

What you do:

1. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Once it's shimmering, add chickpeas, cauliflower, cashews, onion, carrot, and mushroom. Stir well and cook about 5 minutes. 
2. When the veggies are softened, add the spices and 3/4 of the coconut milk. Let simmer until it thickens somewhat, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Feel free to add more coconut milk or spices. It's your dinner, not mine. When you're pretty much satisfied, turn off the heat and stir in the spinach to wilt. It'll only take about 2 minutes.
3. Serve up over some badass coconut rice.

Curry Power

Curry? Um, yes. I really can't ever say no to some tasty-ass curry, and you shouldn't either. 

Don't know what to make for dinner? Have veg that's about to go soft? Tired of the same old shit food? Time to make a fucking curry. You can add almost anything to curry in terms of veggies and spices. This recipe turned out to be one of my favorites and all I did was throw some random stuff together. 

Makes enough for 2 large dinner portions with some tasty jasmine rice.

What you need:

-2 cups cooked chickpeas (1 drained can)

-3 tomatoes roughly chopped

-1 large carrot cut into small dice

-1/2 red onion, cut into small slices or diced

-2 cloves garlic, minced

-1.5 cups raw cashews

-1 cup frozen peas

-1 TB  coconut oil

-2 TB favorite curry power - I'm too lazy to concoct my own

-1/4 to 1/2 tsp sumac (optional but recommended)

-salt and pepper

-fresh coriander/cilantro

-cooked rice

What you do:

1. Cook rice and set side in to keep warm until plating.

2. Heat your oil over medium high heat until shimmering. Add the carrots and cook 3-4 minutes. Add onions, and cook until transparent, about 6 minutes. Now stir in the minced garlic. Once the garlic becomes fragrant, turn heat down to medium.

3. Add the tomatoes to the pan, along with the spices. I covered my pan for about 10 minutes as the tomato cooked down. Once the tomatoes get soft, remove the lid.

4. Add the cashews and peas, and cook another 5-7 minutes as some of the liquid cooks off and the curry tightens up a bit. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed to fit your own twisted tastes.

5. Serve over the yummy rice and top with some fresh cilantro/coriander.