A Taste of Africa: Chickpea, Red Pepper & Spinach Curry
Getting to know Africa includes experiencing the vastly different - and yummy - expressions of each culture through food. This curry is just the best for hot summer weather!
Yum! Yum! Yum! This amazing curry dish is just the very best for hot summer weather. Technically both vegan and gluten free, this fresh tasting curry is a snap to make.
We also make this in a non-vegan version by throwing in whatever we've got left over. Sometimes a little chicken. Sometimes a handful of shrimp. You get the idea. Regardless of the additions you make, this basic recipe is wonderful as is and is also a great "base" for any creative experimentation you want to make. As one of our Dad's used to say, it's "clean out the fridge time - never the same twice"!
We love sharing our family recipes with you but please remember you can search online and find lots of variations on this dish and other terrific African recipes. An online recipe site we use over and over again is The Congo Cookbook. My East Africa Journal is also a great source for recipes. afrolems.com - A food blog for Nigerian, African and International recipes is a great source. Visit them - they have a really nice selection of recipes and the instructions are laid out in a really easy to understand manner. AllRecipes and Food.com are also good resources. Just a simple web search will turn up a wide variety of recipes for you to try.
INGREDIENTS
- Approximately 2 cups of bell peppers. We like to mix it up and have orange, yellow and red. So colourful!
- 1 Cup of cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in halves
- 1 cup of spinach (washed well)
- 1.5 cups of canned chickpeas
- 1/4 teaspoon of paprika. We use smoked paprika.
- 1 sweet white onion diced up
- sea salt and pepper, to taste
- 4 cloves of garlic. You can dice the garlic. We like to smash ours and then break it up into small pieces. We think it releases more flavour that way.
- 3 or 4 tablespoons of olive oil (We use a canola and olive oil mix)
- 2.5 tablespoons of cornstarch (Sometimes it takes a bit more. Just add a tiny bit more if your curry isn't thick enough)
- 4 tablespoons of nutritional yeast (Easily available at any "Bulk Barn" or similar grocery)
- 1.5 cups of coconut milk
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and then bake the peppers until they are charred. This is important as it gives your curry a lovely flavour. Once cooled, remove the skin and the seeds and then put to the side.
- Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until nice and golden. Salt and pepper to taste. Set this aside as well.
- In a food processor, mix your cooled peppers, your onion and garlic mixture, the coconut milk as well as the nutritional yeast, the cornstarch and the paprika until well mixed. At this point, you should give it a taste and add salt and pepper if necessary.
- Now put your mixture back into an oven proof skillet and add the chickpeas, the spinach and the tomatoes. Fold this mixture together well. Bake at 400 degrees for around 25 minutes or so.
Try our authentic, single origin coffee! Our Taste of Africa coffees are simply superb. Fresh roasted in frequent small batches. Simply delicious!
