Suma Bloggers Network - Chickpea, Kale and Leek Curry

Carrying on from my earlier post in relation to the International Year of Pulses, I wanted to share another recipe using pulses. I was hoping to share a baking recipe but its not quite perfected yet! Hopefully over the next few days I'll be able to tweak it so I'm happy with the finished result and then share with you as a bonus recipe.

I absolutely love houmous, but I don't use chick peas very often in cooking, this is about to change. With the weather taking a turn for the worse, and getting colder, I wanted something warming and filling. I've been fighting off a lurgie of some sort for nearly 2 months now, and when everyone around me is dropping like flies I've kept going, just. 

I know my last Suma recipe was a type of curry, but when the weather is miserable and I'm feeling low curry is what lifts my mood and warms me from the inside out. I've never made a chick pea curry before, but I'm sold, and I'm sure more chick pea curry recipes will be created. For this recipe I teamed the chick peas up with a couple of ingredients from my allotment, leeks and kale and it was a perfect combination.

Ingredients - Serves 2 hungry people but will stretch to 4 servings

1 Small onion 
1 Red Chilli
1 Thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled
3 Garlic cloves, peeled
1 Tsp (heaped) Garam masala
1 tsp (level) Ground coriander
½ Tsp Ground cumin
½ Tsp Turmeric
1 Tsp and 1 Tbsp Oil of choice
½ Tsp Black mustard seeds
250g Leeks, sliced
1 Tin Chickpeas drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp Soy sauce
100g Kale, shredded
1 Tin Coconut milk
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

1) Roughly chop the onion, chilli, ginger and garlic and add to a blender.

2) Add the Garam masala, cumin, coriander and turmeric and the 1 Tsp of oil and mix till it forms a coarse paste.

3) Add the other 1 Tbsp oil to a wok and the black mustard seeds. Heat slowly until the mustard seeds start to pop, about 2-3 minutes.

4) Add the curry paste and stir through the mustard seeds, cook over a low heat for a minute.

5) Add the leeks and stir, cook over a low heat for 5 minutes, adding a little water if the leeks or curry paste start to stick.

6) Add the chickpeas and soy sauce and cook for another 2 minutes before adding the coconut milk. If the coconut milk has separated into the liquid and 'cream', stir to make sure all the coconut 'cream' has melted.

7) Add the kale and cook over a low heat for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

8) Add the salt and pepper to taste

9) Serve over wholegrain rice