Chickpeas and spinach curry

I’m sure everyone has that special food we just always have in our cupboards. Something that always comes in handy when we cook, let it be canned tomatoes, mozarella or fresh herbs. For me it’s the can of tomatoes, followed very closely by a can of chickpeas. It’s something I took from my uni days. My housemates, all of them amazing cooks, tought me that you can create nice meals without being broke. A nice change from a toast and butter. I think that was also my first enounter with chickpeas. Since then I guess I could eat at least a can of them a day. But funnily enough, most of the time I cook with either tomatoes or chickpeas, I end up making a curry! Not that I would mind. It is always quite easy choice to figure out what to do with the leftover rice.

This recipe started out as a “let’s see what happens when I add this and that” and hope for the best. And the best it was! It’s nothing really spectacular, but rather simple, student friendly and very good dinner idea. And did I mention it’s also vegan?

Serves 2-4

Cooking time: 20min

Ca 250-300g chickpeas (a can)

250ml coconut milk

Tbsp coconut oil

spinach, frozen ca 150-200g

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

3-4 tomatoes

a little bit of water (if needed)

1 tsp coriander paste

spices:

½ tsp kurkuma

½ tsp ginger powder

½ tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander seeds

1 tsp salt

Peel the garlic and onion and chop them. Wash the tomatoes and put them to a boiling water for ca 30sec. Take them out and peel, then cut into quarters (I thought of this AFTER I finished cooking, so if you don’t like tomato skin, this is the time to take care of it)

Melt the coconut oil in a pan and add the onion. Fry until golden brown, then add the spices and garlic. Add the tomatoes and fry everything together for ca 5 min. Add the coriander paste. Drain the chickpeas and add to the pan. Add the spinach and cook everything on small heat until the spinach thaws. Increase the heat and add the coconut milk. Let it cook for a while and check if it doesn’t need more salt or pepper.

If you’re using leftover rice, add it to the curry and cook everything together, stirring. When the rice is ready, put the curry on the plates and serve.