Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry

This is one of my very simple recipes for those of you who enjoy an Indian style vegetarian curry. You can eat this as a veggie main with rice or as a side dish as part of an Indian meal. It also goes nicely with other vegetarian Indian food such as my paneer recipes. 😉

I recently watched the Great British Food Revival on the BBC, which is a programme attempting to remind us Brits about the delicious and fresh local produce growing all around us. Well-known chefs have teamed up to teach us new recipes using the great British produce.

One episode showed the Hairy Bikers cooking with cauliflower, and reminding us that this is a delicious, healthy, and cheap vegetable. Above all it is also an incredibly versatile vegetable. It is delicious when fried, roasted, pureed, and should certainly not be over boiled and served without seasoning! However as the hairy bikers said, the cauliflower has become somewhat unfashionable compared to its posher cousin, the purple sprouting brocolli and other similar vegetables.

I have always liked cauliflower and I think it is a beautiful vegetable. This is a recipe I created to accompany an Indian meal. I have made it a few times now and found that it is always successful and there are never any left-overs!

 

Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry

Start to finish time: 45 minutes
Serves: 4 (as a side)

Ingredients:

Half a cauliflower, washed and cut up small
2 tbsps sunflower/vegetable oil
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1cm thick ginger, chopped small
120g tinned chickpeas, drained
2 tbsp tomato purée
handful fresh coriander, chopped

Spices:
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric

Salt & pepper

1. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the sliced onions and soften on a medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and the ginger and continue to cook in the same way for 10 minutes. Add more oil if it gets too dry.

2. In a separate pan, heat all the spices for a minute. Then, add it to the onions and stir in.

3. You can now add the cauliflower, coriander and 1/4 cup water and put the lid on the pan. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice.

4. When the cauliflower has softened, add the chickpeas and the tomato puree. If the curry is looking dry, add a bit more water. (You don’t want it to be runny though as it isn’t a sauce.) Taste, and add salt and pepper accordingly.

5. Cook for 10 more minutes and then serve hot.

I ate mine with basmati rice and my homemade tandoori chicken! Delicious!

I hope you enjoy my recipe and as always I’d love to hear from you if any have tried it or any comments/advice/questions!