Chickpea Curry

This Indian inspired dish isn’t too spicy – it’s just the right balance of spices.We served it over a hot baked sweet potato but it would be equally delicious over a bed of  your favorite grain like brown rice, quinoa or couscous. If you prefer to skip the extra carbs you could choose to serve it over a bed of cooked spinach or kale. I also made a topping of Raita using a soy yogurt and it turned it really well. The leftovers were just as good as day one. M-m-m-m- so flavorful! To make this Ultimate Weight Loss compliant leave off the soy yogurt topping.

Chickpea Curry

• 1 large onion, cut into medium dice
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, stemmed, seeded, and minced
• 2 teaspoons finely grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon each: garam masala spice mix and Thai red curry paste
• 1 teaspoon each: ground cumin and turmeric
• 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes no salt added
• 2 cups vegetable broth – no salt added
• 2 cans (15 to 16 ounces each) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, plus extra for garnish

Optional

Raita

cilantro, chopped

baked sweet potatoes /cooked rice / quinoa/ couscous

Over medium heat in a soup kettle or Dutch oven add onions with 2 tablespoons water; sauté until tender, adding more water if needed, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, jalapeno, and ginger; sauté until fragrant, about a minute longer. Add garam masala, curry paste, cumin and turmeric; continue to cook until fragrant, just a few seconds. Add tomatoes, broth, and chickpeas; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to simmer to reduce to thick stew consistency, about 15 minutes longer. Stir in cilantro and let stand a few minutes to blend flavors.

To Serve spoon a generous 1 1/2 cup portion of curry over a baked sweet potato, cooked brown rice, quiona or couscous. Top with Raita or plain yogurt and chopped cilantro if desired.

Yield: 4 servings

Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups curry

* Estimated Nutritional Information for curry only not including options

Per Serving; 278.9 Calories, 2.2g Fat, 0mg Cholesterol, 53 g Carbohydrates, 16.3g Fiber, 14.3g Protein

If you want to serve this over baked sweet potatoes, scrub 4 medium size sweet potatoes and poke holes in potatoes using a fork.Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Place potatoes on a large foil-lined baking sheet and bake until fork-tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Recipe Adapted from Three Many Cooks blog.