No Worry Curry

I love to be inspired, and it’s a good thing too because with cooking, I find inspiration all over the place.
I have a list of several blogs that inspire me. Sometimes I even get inspired at work.

Out of all the dishes I have made, curry was one that really put me on edge. There are so many different spices that go into a curry dish that I was afraid I was going to mess it up. I also didn’t measure things out - I sort of just pulled all the spices from my cabinet, closed my eyes, tossed them in and hoped for the best. It sounds silly, but I honestly felt like this was a dish I was going to make, hate and have to order a pizza after.

All my ingredients and spices trying to intimidate me...

I was pleasantly surprised when my hubby came over for dinner, told me it smelled delicious and then went on to help me devour this dish.

So here it is folks, my super non-helpful recipe for …

Chickpea Curry

Ingredients:

• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 can diced tomatoes with zesty green chiles
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 medium onion
• minced garlic
• paprika
• salt
• curry powder
• chili powder
• cinnamon
• garam masala
• ground ginger
• 2 bay leaves
  (all spices to taste)

Steps:

Spray a large pan with Pam and place over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic and pepper and cook until translucent.

As you can see, I had carrots in my dish – I had one left after making carrot cake that I wanted to use, but please learn from my mistake – carrots do NOT go well with this dish.

Add the diced tomatoes and bay leaves and let this warm up for about 3-5 minutes. Continue to add the garbanzo beans and spices. Mix well.

Now this is where it gets tricky – the spices weren’t measured but I would start with 1 – 2 teaspoons of each. After that, mix everything together, let it cook and keep tasting and adding spices as you see fit. I only used a dash of cinnamon, but loaded up on the curry and chili powders. The garam massala also gives a nice taste, and of course I love salt, so I added some more of that as well.

Once all the spices are in, the aroma from this pan is amazing!

Let this simmer for about 5 minutes. Stir and keep cooking until a significant portion of the liquid cooks off.

When you think it’s done (there’s no clear sign – just whenever you decide you are done waiting) remove the bay leaves and serve this up with a nice piece of naan and a mix of greek yogurt, dill and minced garlic and you have a nice, yummy, curry dish to warm you up on a crisp fall evening.

Tips:

DO NOT BE AFRAID! I think it is pretty hard to screw up curry so please, do not be afraid by the lack of instruction in this recipe. It is super easy to just throw in all the spices and it’s great too because no one knows your tastes better than you so you can tailor this however you want right from the beginning. Hate cinnamon? No problem, cross that off your ingredient list – it will still taste delicious – I promise!

If you decide to try this I would love to hear your feedback – what you left out, what you added, etc.

Enjoy!