Curried Chickpea Stew

Curried Chickpea Stew

Serves 2 as a main course, or 4 as a side dish

This is meant to be served warm as soon as it is made; however, it gains depth of flavour if left overnight, and is also good served cold.

1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons oil
3 cloves garlic
1 green jalapeno pepper (pickled jalapeno works fine too)
A piece of ginger about the size of your thumb, peeled
6 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1 ripe tomato, diced
1 19 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
¾ cup to 1 cup plain yogurt
A handful of chopped green coriander leaf or mint for garnish
Salt and pepper to taste

Chop the onion and fry it in the oil in a large skillet on high heat until the edges are brown, then turn the heat down to medium and cook another five to seven minutes until the onion is translucent.

While the onion cooks, coarsely chop the garlic, jalapeno pepper (leave out the seeds) and the ginger. Put these in a blender with the water and buzz until you have a smooth paste.

Add the cumin seeds to the frying pan with the onion; when they darken and become fragrant, stir in the coriander powder, cook another 30 seconds, then pour in the paste from the blender.

Stir as it sizzles, and cook a few minutes until most of the water is evaporated and you have a thick residue clinging to the bottom of the pan. Stir in the tomato and the chickpeas and cook 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pour the yogurt into a serving dish. Little by little, stir in spoonfuls of the hot chickpea mixture (the yogurt won’t curdle if you add it gradually). Stir well, add the green chopped coriander leaves and season to taste with salt and pepper.