Thai Chickpea Curry

I took yet another four hour cooking class at the community college last Saturday. I love taking the vegan classes there because we have a great instructor and it always gives me new ideas and inspiration, as well as new recipes. This class was called Dinner Made Simple, one pot vegan dishes. We made three different recipes but this one for a Thai Chickpea Curry was my favorite. It is simple, quick and tastes great.

Thai Chickpea Curry

Chef Alyssa Moreau

(Serves 4)

1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed or the equivalent amount of dried beans, soaked and cooked

1 (15 oz) can "lite" coconut milk

1 cup water or broth

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 Tbsp ginger, minced

1 cup sweat potato, peeled and cut into 1" chunks

1/3 cup red bell pepper, chopped

1 Tbsp mild curry powder

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 stalk lemon grass, bottom half peeled, smashed (optional)

2 kaffir lime leaves, torn slightly to release flavor (optional)

1 Tbsp rice flour or arrowroot, dissolved in 2 Tbsp water

2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped

1/4 cup fresh Thai basil

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 tsp salt

Add the ingredients listed, (chickpeas through kaffir lime leaves) in a large pot and simmer about 20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are cooked through. Dissolve the rice flour/arrowroot in water to make a slurry and add to curry mixture; stir to thicken. Add in the parsley, basil, peas and salt and cook a few minutes more to warm the peas and soften the herbs.

Note: *You can substitute part of the coconut milk with soy milk, almond milk, regular coconut milk or garbanzo bean cooking liquid.

Notes/Results:  Creamy, hearty and delicious. You basically are dumping ingredients in a pot and simmering away. We actually didn't add the extra cup of water, just about a half cup of the bean cooking liquid (our instructor cooked the dried chickpeas ahead of time for us to save time), so there was no need for the slurry, the curry was thick enough on its own. You could easily substitute the veggies you have on hand; cauliflower, green beans, even carrots would be good in this curry. I ate it over some brown rice for dinner that night and for lunch the next day and I was a very happy camper. Alysssa, our chef, recommends it over jasmine rice that you cook with ginger, lemon grass and kaffir lime, which I am sure would be delicious. It would be a bit prettier but I was really hungry and just dumped it out of the take-home container into a bowl when I got home from class without adding any garnishes.