Curried Chickpeas & Quinoa

This recipe emerged as desperation food. This is what I call the cooking I do when I’m making food for myself when Eric isn’t home and I have very little food in the house (in the way of fresh vegetables). Also, I’m hypoglycemic and when my blood sugar gets too low, I get cranky (to put it mildly) and it’s just no good all around. Sorry, Eric! When I’m really hungry, I also have a difficult time coming up with ideas for food and so whatever is easy and nourishing is the best way to go. Late last week, I was in this state around lunchtime, and I looked in the vegetable bins and found only half an onion and I looked into the cupboard and found a can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans, and some diced tomatoes. It’s filling and easy and great paired with some quinoa (some of Maizy’s cooked quinoa, actually). It’s also good cold the next day.

The Recipe:

Serves 2-4, depending on portion size

1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)

1 can diced tomatoes

1 cup diced onion

~2 cups water or vegetable broth

2 tsp curry powder (one of my faves is the “chicken curry” (totally vegan) from Market Spice)

1 tsp garam masala (also from Market Spice)

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp ground coriander

ground red chili to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Saute the diced onions in a pot or pan big enough to hold all ingredients. I tend to saute in water instead of oil a lot of the time, but you can use either water or olive oil. Cook till onions are slightly softened.

Drain and rinse chickpeas:

Add spices to onions and let the spices bloom (i.e. release their aroma and cook a bit).

Add the chickpeas and the tomato, and stir. Add ~2 cups of water or vegetable broth. Salt and pepper to taste.

You want the consistency to be kind of stew-like, so you’ll start with a soupy consistency and cook it down so some of the liquid cooks off. Stir and let simmer for about 20 minutes. All ingredients are already cooked, so you’re really just giving it time to combine the flavors and get that stewy consistency. Meanwhile, you can be cooking some quinoa, if you like, to serve with it, or it’s fine on its own. I usually try to have some quinoa or brown rice already cooked up and in the fridge for this kind of thing, but quinoa cooks in 15 minutes, so it’s a good quick food too. Pretty healthy, delicious, and easy. Plus, leftovers for the next day!