Chickpea Potato Curry

I’m literally always in search of healthy, hearty, EASY recipes that I can make in one pot…and this is it. I honestly make this recipe weekly and the best part is, if you don’t eat it all right away, it’s just as delicious reheated the next day. Once you have a good stock of spices in your cupboard (see my post about my spice rack!), this recipe is super straightforward (and rewarding!) to make.

A few things I’ve learned after making this dish A THOUSAND times:

SPICE UP YOUR LIFE with whole spices. They have SUCH phenomenal flavour (in this recipe, I use cumin and fennel seeds). If you’d rather use powdered spices, though, that’s totally cool too.
Peppers are not necessary, but they add a nice extra flavour – just make sure you cook them long enough at the beginning so that they have a chance to soften.
If you add the cilantro early enough, while the rest of the spices are cooking down, the cilantro-haters likely won’t notice it.

Chickpea Potato Curry

Servings: 6
Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

4 tbsp sunflower or other cooking oil
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped (optional)
1 small orange or red pepper, chopped (optional)
3 red or yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1.5 tsp turmeric
1.5 tsp cumin powder
1.5 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp garam masala
⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ cup chopped cilantro (set some whole leaves aside for a garnish)
2 handfuls spinach, chopped
2 cups uncooked white rice
6 lemon wedges

Directions

Chop all vegetables prior to making the recipe. I usually chop everything into 1/2 inch pieces
Grind cumin and fennel seeds together in a mortar and pestle until about half of the seeds are broken down into a powder (it’s okay if some are still whole). If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, blitz the seeds in a food processor!
Heat the oil in a large frying pan on medium heat for 30 seconds before adding the cumin and fennel. Cook the spices for 5 minutes and then add the onion as well as ¼ cup water.
Cook onions for 5-7 minutes, adding garlic partway through, allowing them to become translucent (pour in more water throughout as needed so that onions and spices don’t stick to the pan).
Add the peppers to the pan, along with a bit more water (during this step, I like to add some of the juices from the can of diced tomatoes to start giving the dish more flavour). Cook for 15-20 minutes, covered, on low-medium heat, or as long as it takes for the peppers to soften.
While the peppers are cooking, put the potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with water – bring to a boil and, after they boil, cook for another 4 minutes. Drain the potatoes and set them aside.
To the onion and spice mix, add in the chickpeas, diced tomatoes, remaining spices, and chopped cilantro. Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat, then add potatoes and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, allowing chickpeas and potatoes to soften and absorb the flavours of the spices
While curry is cooking, cook the rice according to the package directions or follow my directions for cooking rice.
Once the curry and rice have finished cooking, serve hot and garnish with a sprig of cilantro and a lemon wedge.