Chickpea curry

Medium, Leftovers, Freezes, Vegetarian

Ingredients

• Pre-cooked chickpeas, preferably still al dente

• Onion

• Garlic

• Ginger

• Coconut milk, around 100ml for each 500g of chickpeas

Standard Indian curry spices. A store bought mix is fine, but you may supplement it with the following:

• Cinnamon, just a small piece of bark

• Star anise, same

• Cumin seeds

• Coriander seeds

• Black pepper corns

• A source of vegan umami. I use dry shiitake mushroom, Vegemite or yeast extract also work.

Steps

Prepare the vegetables, dicing the onion and garlic into medium pieces, and the ginger into small ones. Grind all the spices with a mortar and pestle, except the mushroom.

Take a large pot and fry the ginger, onion and garlic in olive oil, in this order, adding a bit of salt to the onion. Add 80% of the spices and toast them. Add a small dollop of tomato paste and mix it vigorously to avoid burning.

Add the chickpeas and water, but do not submerge everything. Adjust the salt, and add the whole mushroom.

Simmer until the desired consistency is reached. Add the coconut milk and the rest of the spices. Simmer until it thickens a bit, and discard the mushroom. Serve over plain rice.