Anyway, I haven't felt like cooking much lately, let alone creating new recipes, however today I forced myself to make dinner instead of ordering out. Much healthier and cheaper! At first I thought about making a veggie-licious soup, but then decided I didn't feel like chopping a bunch of vegetables. Usually when Brant and I cook together, I put him on onion and garlic duty, my least favorite, hee hee. Luckily, he doesn't mind ;) However, since Brant wasn't home yet, I decided to make a variation of Isa's chickpea spinach curry from Vegan with a Vengeance. The original recipe includes chopping onion, garlic, ginger, and toasting mustard seeds which is more than I wanted to do. Instead, I heated up a can of no-salt added diced tomatoes, a can of drained chickpeas, spinach, cooked yam, and a few spices, and voila! A delicious dinner was served! Surprisingly, Claire even liked it. I wasn't sure how she would respond to the different Indian spices, but she seemed to love it! It really is more of a sweet, spicy dish than a hot, spicy dish.
Potatoes or yams usually take a while to cook in soups or stews, so I just cooked mine in the microwave first for about 7 ish minutes on the potato setting. The yam and garam masala (spice blend of pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin and coriander) add a nice sweetness to this curry. My yam was very soft so it soaked up some of the juice from the tomatoes and spinach and made the consistency thicker and heartier. I was also able to pack about 8 cups of spinach into this dish as spinach cooks down to almost nothing. I served the dish over brown rice, although, you could really serve over any grain or just eat it as is. This dish has no added oil and no added salt, but still has great flavor. I would definitely make it again! If I was feeling more energetic next time, I would probably chop up some onions, garlic, and fresh ginger and water-saute that first before adding the tomatoes, chickpeas, and spices. If I was really ambitious, I would cook my chickpeas from scratch too, but then I'd have to plan this meal either the day before or early that day so the chickpeas would have time to soak and cook. Anyway, without further ado, here is the recipe!
Chickpea-Spinach-Yam Curry
-1 15-oz can diced tomatoes (I used no-salt added)
-1 15-oz can chickpeas, drained
-1 medium yam or sweet potato
-8 cups baby spinach
-1 heaping tsp garam masala
-1/4 tsp garlic powder
-1/4 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 tsp tumeric
-1/4 tsp ginger powder
-Pinch of cayenne
Poke holes or make slits in your yam/sweet potato and then cook in microwave on the potato setting for 5-7 minutes. Peel off skin when done and then chop. Set aside.
Put tomatoes, chickpeas, and spices in pot and cook over medium heat until hot, about 10 minutes. Add spinach, a couple handfuls at a time, cover pot, and cook until spinach wilts down. Add another couple handfuls of spinach, and repeat process until all 8 cups are in the pot and cooked down. Add the cooked yam, mix well, add extra seasonings/salt/pepper to taste, and serve with brown rice or grain of your choosing! Enjoy :)
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