Chickpea curry recipe: vegan, dairy free, soya free, syn free

This quick, easy and incredibly tasty recipe is vegan, dairy free, egg free and soya free - when I Instagrammed it I used the #veganuary hashtag and it got lots of interest, similarly in both my Slimming World and CMPA groups people were after the recipe.

I wrote that first paragraph back in January. And then abandoned this post - and to be honest a lot of the blog. Without wishing to jinx things, I do have a few posts lined up at the moment.

This recipe was supposed to be the Chana Masala from the Oh She Glows cookbook, and it is still loosely based on that. However, I did that food blogger thing of adding a bit of this, a bit of that - until it became a bit different. Then when I made it the second and third times I did it from memory rather than a recipe and we seem to have set on my recipe so I thought I'd take the opportunity to blog it.



Chickpea curry - dairy free, soya free, vegan
Syn free on Slimming World

Fry light spray (or coconut oil if you're not on Slimming World)
2 red onions
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 red chilli
Thumb sized piece ginger
3-4 carrots
2-3 sweet potatoes
2 - 400g tins chickpeas (if you're egg free, keep the water and use it to make awesome egg free meringues)
2 - 400g tins chopped tomatoes
1 400g carton passata
1.5tsp cumin seeds
1.5 tsp garam masala
1.5tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
If not feeding a baby - Half tsp salt
Large bunch coriander

Either by hand or in the food processor, peel and finely chop the onions, garlic, chilli (I deseed it as I'm feeding Harry too) and ginger
Peel and grate the carrots and sweet potatoes
Liberally spray a large pan with the Fry light - or add about a tablespoon of coconut oil and warm it so that it's liquid
Add the cumin seeds and fry gently until they start to pop
Add the garlic, chilli, ginger and onions and cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly. The onion should be really soft and completely translucent
Add all the spices and stir well
Add the grated sweet potatoes and carrots, and both tins of chickpeas. Stir to make sure that everything is coated in the spice/ onion mix
Add the tomatoes and passata and stir well.
Bring to a gentle simmer, put a lid on the pan and leave for half an hour - 45 minutes
Top with lots of freshly chopped coriander and serve with rice or roti.

Quick, easy, and super healthy. What's not to like?

If that's piqued your interest in a dairy free or vegan curry - why not try one of these recipes from some other lovely bloggers too:

• Over at The Veg space there's a lovely Swiss chard and new potato dhal that's ideal for those of us who are dairy free as it's packed full of calcium containing greens.
• Recipes from a Pantry has a gorgeous looking Roasted pumpkin red thai curry  Do not that you'll want to omit the fish sauce if you're veggie or vegan. Bintu suggests simply and easily replacing it with extra lime juice
• There's another Thai curry - this time green from Tin and Thyme - packed full of loads of lovely veggies and with my favourite cashew nuts too
• Tinned tomatoes has a curry my hubs would love - Mushroom and potato 

I'm adding this post to Attachment Mummy's Friday fabulous linky...

And A mummy too's Recipe of the week one too

Meal Planning Monday

Another Monday, another meal plan. Today is a busy one - baby music, then Slimming World then an afternoon of errands, and painting.

Last week we stuck to the meal plan well - just running out of potatoes and the emergency stash of oven chips at the same time meant M doing a dash to the chip shop on Friday. However, I won our weekly raffle this morning at Slimming World so we're well stocked up on veggies now. I'd never won before, I'm dead chuffed!

Hopefully M won't be working away this week but the plan is flexible enough to accommodate his work schedule hopefully.

Breakfasts - still porridge for me this week. Sadly no figs on special in Aldi so it's just apple and plums as topping but with some cinnamon that'll be lovely.

Lunches - Harry's napping so I'm about to take advantage and make some dairy free pesto with broccoli and broad beans for me.

Suppers:

Monday: I made my Super slow roast brisket on Saturday - so am using the leftovers from that to make a speedy chilli con carne tonight (in Slimming World terms, speedy means stuffed full of lots of veggies) with greens and rice.

Tuesday: Leftover chilli and rice for me - in burrito wraps for M

Wednesday: Butternut squash and bacon pasta

Thursday: Leftover pasta

Friday: Gammon, homemade Slimming World friendly chips, and veggies

We've got no plans set in stone next weekend, so I was thinking about doing a roast and a casserole. Perhaps my chicken and butternut squash casserole and maybe some slow roast pork - let's see what's on offer.

Baking wise, I made Harry the Sweet potato stars last week which he loved and also hacked another Betty Crocker cake mix for a dairy and egg free Cream soda cherry cake - of which I've already given a fair amount away as we had a visit from another dairy free person - and if there's an almost universal rule, it's that dairy free people don't have enough cake in their lives.

Sweet potato biscuit stars: a dairy free, egg free, sugar free weaning recipe

Sweet potato biscuit stars have been a hands down winner in our house this week - little mouthfuls of lightly spiced, naturally sweet biscuit are an ideal accompaniment to a midmorning beaker of oat milk, or as a pudding to go with some coconut yoghurt. Dairy, egg, soya and sugar free they are wildly simple to make, and for a bubba in his seventh week of a streaming cough and cold and his second week of cutting canines they were one of the only foods he didn't fling heavenwards.

I made these using the food processor, but a decent masher or ricer would mean they would easily make by hand. Similarly, I've used coconut oil but Pure dairy free spread, or Vitalite would work, as would gluten free flour. The biscuits keep nicely in an airtight tin, and I tend to view a portion as two of the little stars.

print recipe

Sweet Potato Biscuit Stars

by Penelope Reader October-10-2015

A dairy free, egg free, sugar free weaning recipe

Ingredients

• 150g Cooked Sweet Potato
• 180g Plain flour
• 60g Coconut Oil
• ½tsp Ground mixed spice
• ¼tsp Ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC 2. Line a cookie sheet with greaseproof paper 3. Peel, chop, and boil/microwave/bake your sweet potato. Allow to cool 4. Put the sweet potato into the bowl of your food processor (or mash thoroughly and mix the rest of the ingredients by hand). 5. Add the flour, spices and coconut oil to the food processor bowl and pulse until the dough comes together into a ball. 6. Liberally dust your worktop with flour, and roll out the dough until it is about ¼" thick. 7. Cut out the shapes, and put them on the lined cookie sheet 8. Briefly knead the leftover dough, reroll and cut out shapes. Repeat until you have used all the dough. 9. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. 10. Cool on a wire rack.

Details

Prep time: 10m Cook time: 35m Total time: 45mYield: 20 small biscuits

Whatever you do, don't turn your back while trying to take photos or this might just happen...

Souper soup on Saturdays

This week's soup was a revelation - and that's not entirely an understatement. Faced with either leek and potato or a combination of sweet potato and butternut squash, I keenly went for the latter. Leek and potato just never excites me, it's not something I'd choose or buy and may be something I need to get my head around. Especially while leeks are cheap.

I had a squiz around those interwebs for a recipe for sweet potato and butternut squash as all my ideas involved a heavy kick of chilli and ginger and this was to be in part for M's parents who aren't really chilli fans. One recipe stood out as either going to be a raging success or an utter diaster and clearly beset by the type of confidence that I can't normally muster up I went for it. Helped in part by the fact that the original recipe didn't require the butternut squash to be peeled.

We have one of those internets that works perfectly in 90% of the house, but blankly refuses to in the kitchen, as such - this was my take on the recipe I found.

Sweet potato and butternut squash soup

Half a butternut squash, chopped up into chunks about 2 - 3 inches square (or as square as a butternut squash will allow)
 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped up into biggish peices
Half teaspoon cinammon
Half teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 litre of veg stock (I used a cube)
Half a cup of marsala wine

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
Prep your veggies - and the best news - don't peel the squash (at this point I did do a little dance as I hate peeling butternut squash with a passion). Toss in the olive oil, cinammon and nutmeg. Roast in the hot oven until they've soft enough to squash easily
Pop the now soft veggies in a big saucepan, and add half the stock. Blitz with a hand blender until you get a nice thick puree. Add the rest of the stock, bring to a gentle boil and add the marsala
Allow to simmer gently for a few minutes, then serve with wholemeal bread and butter.

Who can say if I've been changed for the better? Lifechanging soup. Changed up

I have oft waxed lyrical of the power of Skye Gyngell's Lifechanging soup - also known by the author herself as Sweet potato and ginger soup. From my much loved (read sticky) copy of her book A year in my kitchen it was the first recipe of hers I tried and it was a resounding success.

Of late, I'm not sure if it is to do with the migraine medication or *gasp* my tastebuds finally maturing, but I don't crave sweetness anymore. Saturday was the first chocolate I have eaten in ages and that was Green and Blacks 70%. For some reason that sugary hit is no longer what I fancy (food that crunches however? Bring. It. On.) As such, looking at Lifechanging soup this morning didn't really ring my bells. So I changed it up. A bit. And here it is.

Lifechanging soup. Changed.

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 red onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 red chilli or, 1 tsp lazy red chilli
1.5 tablespoons of fresh root ginger grated
1.5 litres of chicken/ veg stock
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon tamarind paste
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1 lime, juiced

Melt the butter in a large pan and sweat the onions off until they're starting to soften.
Add the ginger, tamarind and chilli and cook off until you can smell the aromatics
Add the potato and stir until slightly shiny from the butter and spices
Add the stock (I used chicken as that's what I had in the freezer)
Cook for half an hour or until you can smush the potatoes easily against the side of the pan
Blitz in the pan using a hand held blender, until you get a nice smooth consistency
Taste, and add seasoning to taste
Bring back to the boil and serve with sourdough bread and butter

I'm having this for lunch at the moment, on these chilly, sunny spring days it's lightness of flavour yet oomph from the spicing is just what's needed to power me through the afternoon. Yum.

The original recipe calls for maple syrup and cream instead of the palm sugar, and doesn't use chilli but I like the fresher, zingier flavour at this time of year. The original has it's place and is equally as life changing.

Meal Planning Monday: another freezer based week

Will it surprise you, dear reader, if I tell you that last week didn't clear down the freezer? I didn't think so. So, another week of clearing down the freezers. Not thrilling I'm afraid.

But there is good news. I am without plastercast. After five months of incapacitation, my wrist is healed. Sadly I have the early stages of a pressure sore which was what alerted me to the need for the cast to come off last week. An acute sense of burning in a place about the size of a 50 pence peice. Alarming, but I have to say Barnet really did step up. Although they frustrate me at times, they did step up. Physio starts in a fortnight or so, and in the meantime in case I started to miss them I have another set of nerve blocker injections in the back of my head on Monday. Hurrah!

Initially I thought this weekend would involve much rolling out, kneading, and general kitchen activities that involve an unplastered wrist. And then it struck me just how much pain an unplastered, newly healed wrist can cause. So, in place of that I sat. Watched trashy telly. Slept. Generally broke the mould and gave my mind and body some extra time and space in which to heal. Which meant that this morning I practically bounced from my bed, wished M a good morning and promptly started work. At half past 7. I know.

The blue skies (albeit freezing outside) are trying to convince me that a run is imminent, and depending on how my nerve blockers go, I may try one later. At present I'm sorting out Diplomas and drinking coffee.

So, this week - M's mum (she of the WI and marmalade & jam coaching) has sent us back half a sultana and cherry cake which is my favourite, and some welshcakes. Which is a bonus as it relieves me of baking duties for the time being. That said, following the purchase and demolition of an epic sourdough from Barnet farmers market I think I'm going to kick start myself a sourdough starter this week.

Breakfast wise, I thought I'd try the Sainsbury's frozen fruit bags, they're 3 for £5 and I got peaches, blueberries and mixed summer fruits. I'm a big fan of a lot of Sainsburys basics range and although a bit more pricey than I would have liked I thought I'd try making these into smoothies with my 0% fat greek yoghurt. I've got some sachets of ground linseed etc that I think would make good additions as well. Any suggestions for other things to add to a breakfast smoothie?

Lunches: well the early morning has given me a kick in the right direction and I've got a pan of Lifechanging soup (TM), that is to say Skye Gyngell's Sweet Potato and ginger which I haven't made for far too long. I've got a little sourdough left to have with, and may make up some soda bread in rolls for the rest of the week.

Dinner: Largely freezer roulette again...

Monday: Bolognaise sauce, with grated cheese and pasta for Mark, just with steamed veggies for me.

Tuesday: Minced beef hash, with a poached egg on top

Wednesday: I'm out Leith's cookery school for the evening, so will be leaving M lentil ragu with chorizo I thing

Thursday: M is at Welsh, so probably his leftover lentil ragu for me

Friday: As yet I'm undecided, we're both in and the freezer will be mainly empty by then.... I've got some chicken and leeks in the freezer so I might make up some more of the butternut squash, chicken and leek casserole I've made previously. It's a simple really warming dish and the addition of barley makes it stretch further quite cheaply.

I do have some unearmarked courgettes in the fridge from last week's veg box, and I'm torn between courgetti spaghetti, and doing something different with them... Any suggestions?

Do be sure to pop over and see what everyone else is up to At home with Mrs M

A veritable dearth of posts

Confession time: I am a shamefully bad blogger, barely able to raise myself from my shame to type these words. In the last three weeks I have *deep breath* barely cooked... I have lived on the contents of my freezer (mainly home-made soup, but still) and the occaisional bowl of fridge bottom pasta sauce. With pasta. Obviously.

To be fair to myself, I'm on a bit of an economy drive at the moment and so have been actively trying to use up what I already have as opposed to needlessly purchasing new ingredients because I fancy cooking something. Although to be entirely honest with you, I haven't actually felt like cooking much at all. I blame the weather, the dark mornings, working long hours and just generally feeling a bit *meh* (it's a medical term. Honest.) However, as always this turns into one of those viscous cycle things whereby I feel drained and lifeless because I'm not eating properly, so I start mainlining chocolate and diet coke. Yes, you read that correctly (I did warn you about the shame, but let's face it I've not sunk to tinned meat so there is hope for my redemption). The mainlining of the diet coke and chocolate means I have highs and lows all over the place and feel worse... and so it goes on.

Ladies and gentlemen. This stops. Now. No really it does. As of tomorrow I am back on my healthy eating and living bandwagon. As always the ladies at handbag have given me a kick in the right direction, and so when I'm back from work I shall be making a chicken hotpot as part of our recipe challenge. Warming winter food, ready in about an hour, that will be served with some purple sprouting broccoli. Yum.

So that should see me through to the end of the week, alongside some life-changing soup I have in the freezer. Oooh I had better make up some more bread tomorrow as well. And for the first time in about a month I have a weekend free. So I was thinking of a cooking marathon...

• Carrot and celeriac soup (seriously I have about my own bodyweight in carrots in the fridge)
• More life-changing soup
• Bread rolls
• This granola recipe from A wee bit of cooking which is a new blog that I've found and am loving a lot
• And a curry recipe from my A year in my kitchen book. Newsflash (and brace yourselves) it has aubergine in it. Yes, I'm trying it again

Looking at all of that I may need to buy some more tupperware. But I know that once accomplished I will feel worthy of my DG hat again, and mores the point I will have healthy, decent food in to eat. I'll try to ensure that I do a mammoth post to update you all on how it goes, but if you want me this weekend I will be found in my kitchen in my platypus pinny happily pottering.

Life changing soup

And I'm not even stretching the truth! At all... I discovered this soup recipe thanks to one of the wonderful women over at Handbag.com on the f&d forum, and I adore it.

Soup is pretty much a food group all by itself as far as I'm concerned, it's an amazing way to increase my vegetable intake (and use up my vegetables), and it hits the key targets for a busy working woman (that's me in case you were confused) of being quick, easy and healthy. At this time of year, it really is a key staple in my diet. However, my stock recipe is what I call 'Saturday soup' (TM) where I use up all the leftover veggies from the last weeks veg box, boil them in stock until soft and blend until smooth. That's it. Hardly Masterchef material. As you will know I also extended my repertoire early on in my blogging days to include Celeriac and carrot which is yummy, and a 'proper' recipe.

That pales into insignificance when up against 'Life changing soup' aka Sweet potato and ginger. It's a recipe from the Skye Gyngell book "A year in my kitchen " and really showcases her understanding of balancing sweet, sour, salty and hot flavours. The basis for the soup is sweet potatoes, red onion and ginger, cooked in vegetable stock. This in itself is amazing... and then you add some (seemingly odd) extras: cream, maple syrup, lime juice and tamari paste (or soy sauce). I have to confess I don't understand how these change the flavour of what is a tasty, but fairly standard soup, into the realms of life changing. But oh dear Lord, they do. They so do. Buy the book, try the recipe and see for yourself... life changing soup...