Curry Chickpea Stew

Ah December. That magically month of the year when time seems to fly by much too quickly and despite our best laid plans, we all end up rushing around, buying lame gifts, and feeling so guilty and stressed out that the only way to feel better is to eat dozens of chocolate peanut butter balls. Or is that just me? Other people don't feel this way about December? Regardless, when life makes you too busy to even consider cooking, nevermind cooking something healthy, remember your slow cooker and use it and all its magically powers.  Yes, the slow cooker is a lifesaver for tough cuts of meat like brisket or pork shoulder, but it also does a great job on simpler things, like this Curry Chickpea Stew.  In full disclosure, I pulled this recipe off The Kitchn.

For this delight, you'll need: 1 medium onion, potatoes of your choosing, about 2 inches of fresh ginger root, hot peppers of your choosing, 4 cloves of garlic, curry powder, brown sugar, 1 head of cauliflower, 1 green pepper, 2 cans of chick peas, 1 big can of diced tomatoes, 4 cups of broth of your choosing, 1 can of coconut milk and some baby spinach.

Start by dicing the onion. I diced mine quite finely and it completely disintegrated in the stew. If you prefer to taste and see your onion, chop it a little less.

Next, peel and dice the potatoes.  I used three small red potatoes because I had them in the pantry, but should have bought a bigger potato.  Peeling little potatoes is more like a lesson in not peeling your finger tips. I failed.

Next, peel and grate the ginger.  The tiny little ginger nub in the picture is just the tip of the ginger iceberg. I ended up grating about 3 inches of ginger root which made about a tablespoon of grated ginger mush.  I really like ginger, so I wanted a good amount of it. If ginger isn't your thing, feel free to scale back. I do recommend using fresh ginger over powdered. The powdered stuff creeps me out a bit.

 

Into the same bowl as the ginger goes your diced hot peppers.  I picked up two sorry looking serrano peppers because the grocery store didn't have any jalapenos (said store also didn't have cauliflower and I had to go to the snooty store for it and was less than pleased).  I anticipated these serranos would be hot like fire like the ones Brian and I grew and I was sadly mistaken. If like spice, be sure you add more than I did, or are using fresher peppers.

 Also into the ginger-hot pepper bowl goes 4 minced garlic cloves.

Lastly, throw in about a tablespoon of curry powder and 2 teaspoons of brown sugar. I used light because it was all I had, dark would be fine too. Mix this all up with a fork.

Now for the evil snooty-store cauliflower, chop the entire head into florets. Try not to judge the cauliflower for coming from the rich kid grocery store, it's not the vegetable's fault that the people who shop at the discount store don't want to eat it so they don't stock it.

 Then dice the green pepper and add it to the bowl with the cauliflower.

Now for cooking. For starters, I'm going to apologize for these pictures. I couldn't get the camera to take a decent picture of the onions and potatoes and Brian wasn't home to fix it. Yes, I will admit it, our digital camera is smarter than I am and I do not know how to use it. This should come as no surprise to most people. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add a bit of oil then add the onions, cooking for about 5 minutes until they're translucent.

Then add the potatoes, cooking for another 2 minutes or so.  Yay! Skillet full of tasteless white vegetables! Now's a good time to throw in a little bit of salt to give these guys a smidgen of flavor.

Next, add the ginger-hot pepper-curry powder mix and stir, stir, stir until the vegetables are coated and you start to smell the ginger and curry.

Pour in about 1/2 a cup of broth to deglaze the pan and ensure none of the flavor stays stuck in your skillet.  You may elect to do this in two steps, once with the veggies in the skillet and again after you transfer the veggies to the crock pot.

 Transfer the onion-potato mix to your slow cooker. Yum! Looks like Indian food mush!

Dump the cauliflower, green pepper, rinsed and drained chickpeas and diced tomatoes (with juice) into a 6 quart slow cooker. Pour in the rest of your broth.  I used 4 quarts of stock total, but if you want a thicker stew, use a bit less.  Set the cooker on high and let it go for 4 hours.

About 3 1/2 hours into the cook time, take the lid off and give the broth a taste. Mine was quite bland. I blame the dull serranos. I spiced mine up with a bit more curry powder and some garam masala. Put the lid back on and let it cook for another half hour. Once that time is up, add the spinach and can of coconut milk, stir this up, put the lid back on for a few minutes until the spinach is wilted.

I ate mine by itself, but it could easily be served over some cous cous. This recipe made about 10 servings as well, so you best be hungry or have some freezer space for the extras. Enjoy!