Chickpea & Cauliflower Curry, Carrot-Coconut Salad & Garlic Naan
Dana Velden at the Kitchn, recently wrote about Sunday Suppers. The post talks about making comforting food to enjoy with friends and/or family before the workweek starts. A leisurely Sunday meal is a great time to relax, unwind and squeeze a little bit more fun out of the weekend. It’s also something my husband and I have been doing for a long time. It’s rare for us to go to dinner or order in on a Sunday night. Instead, one of us makes a special recipe. Sometimes, this recipe is a simple comfort food. He might grill burgers or chicken or I might play with my minestrone recipe.
More often than not, Sunday dinner is something new and different. It’s a great time for me to try the complicated recipes and techniques that I don’t have time to make after getting off work. There is no way I’m going to spend several hours in the kitchen on a Tuesday night. But a Sunday when I don’t have anything on the agenda? Perfect time to tackle that super-involved recipe I’ve been hanging on to. The Indian Feast from the January/February Food Network Magazine is a great example. The meal consisted of a Chickpea & Cauliflower Curry, Carrot-Coconut Salad and Garlic Naan. These recipes will be the subject of my next couple blog posts.
Chickpea & Cauliflower Curry
Makes 6 servings
Ingredients
1/2 lb. dried chickpeas
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
4 pods of cardamom
6 cloves, whole
12 black peppercorns, whole
2 red onions – 1 diced & 1 quartered
3″ piece of ginger, peeled & chopped
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
2 serrano chiles, chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried cilantro
1/4 tsp. tumeric
2 plum tomatoes, diced
6 cups cauliflower florets
juice of one lemon
1/2 cup fresh cilantro or mint, chopped
kosher salt
Directions
1. To soften the chickpeas, soak them in a large pot of water overnight. Drain water and return chickpeas to the pot.
2. Create a spice packet by wrapping cinnamon stick, bay leaves, cardamom pods, cloves and peppercorns in a piece of cheesecloth. Tie loose ends of cheesecloth together.
3. Place spice packet in the pot of chickpeas. Add 8 cups of water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for about 50 minutes, until chickpeas are tender. Strain chickpeas. Be sure to set aside the cooking liquid and spice packet.
3. While peas are cooking, make a paste by pulsing quartered onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor.
4. Heat vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook diced onion in oil until browned, about 9 minutes. Add ginger-garlic paste, serrano and 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until liquid has gone out of mixture, approximately 6 minutes. Add coriander, cumin and tumeric and cook for one more minute.
5. Add chickpeas, tomatoes, spice bundle and 3 cups of the cooking liquid. Simmer until mixture is thick, at least 20 minutes. Add cauliflower and cook for an additional 10-12 minutes, adding more cooking liquid as needed.
6. Discard spice bundle. Add lemon juice and a little salt before eating.
Curry spices ready to be made into a nice little packet
My thoughts & suggestions
- The magazine article offers a shortcut for softening the chickpeas. To soften them quickly, boil them for 5 minutes then set aside, covered, for about an hour. I’m sure you could also use canned chickpeas in this recipe. But the dried ones add a little bit of crunch that contrasts nicely with the softer cauliflower.
- For the most part, I followed the recipe exactly as it was. The amounts given for serranos and tumeric are twice those called for in the initial recipe. I did this because the husband and I prefer our food spicy and heavily seasoned. I was quite happy with the results. Also, the recipe called for 1/2 lb. of okra. I forgot to add it, and didn’t miss it.
Recipe Source: Adapted from “Crowd-Pleasing Curry”, Food Network Magazine, January/February 2010
