One of my friends had surgery last week so I’m bringing her dinner tonight and prepared it last night so it’s all ready to go. She loves Indian food so I made a chickpea and potato curry dish and am serving it with brown basmati rice and whole wheat pita bread. She’s a real foodie (I mean she’s a read a cook book or online menu while she’s eating nightly kind of foodie) which makes me want to make something she loves even more. I saved enough to have for dinner tonight myself with leftover sushi rice and for lunch for another friend at school today. She requested it spicy so I added a good amount of cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes, but it’s easy to adjust to whatever amount of spice you like. I also didn’t want it as spicy as she did so I added some spices to hers after I took mine out.

I didn’t realize how fast this dish can be made and it comes together really quickly. I looked up some recipes for this dish and kind of threw my own together and hoped for the best. Lately I like to taste as I go and if it’s not how I want it I try to figure out what it needs to make it better and keep doing that until it’s how I want. I used low fat coconut milk because I’m watching my fat content, but if you want to you can use full fat for a thicker curry. You just saute veggies, throw in spices, add cans of chickpeas and tomatoes, bring to a boil, and then simmer for 20-30 minutes and serve over rice. Easy peasy! It’s also budget friendly because how cheap are cans of chickpeas and a bag of potatoes?? You can feed a lot of people for not a lot of money which is always a plus in my book, or checkbook.

Feel better Nicole!

Chana Aloo Curry

2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

7-8 mini gold yukon potatoes, diced

1 can diced tomatoes, no salt added

1 yellow onion, diced

3/4 can low fat coconut milk

3 tbsp red curry paste, I use Thai Kitchen

1 tsp turmeric

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tbsp ground cumin

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp cayenne pepper

3 cups chopped kale

red pepper flakes (optional)

Rice for serving

1. In a large saute pan, saute onion and diced potatoes until onions are soft and then add garlic, garam masala, turmeric, cumin, and cayenne. Saute until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
2. Add can of diced tomatoes, chickpeas, coconut milk, and red curry paste and combine.
3. Bring mixture to a boil and then bring down to a simmer and let it thicken for 20-30 minutes until mixture is thick and creamy. Potatoes should be fork tender by then, so test before serving.
4. Add in kale and stir until wilted.
5. Serve on a bed of rice with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes if you want extra spice.