Sunday, January 11, 2009

Sweet Curry Chickpea Casserole (with some changes!)

Before the holidays, I made a version of my Sweet Curry Chickpea Casserole from Vive, so I thought I'd show you how I changed it up!
This is a one-pot dish, and you basically chuck all the needed ingredients into a large baking dish, stir through... cover up, and bake until done (okay, you stire once or twice during baking, but that's all the additional work from you)! You can then relax, sip champagne and sample decadent truffles while having a pedicure. Wait, that's what I like to pretend I'm doing after prepping... really, I'm tidying/doing laundry/cleaning dishes/vacuuming, etc... you know the score, you're doing it too! :)

So, when I made this dish, I had some black beans in the pantry as well as chickpeas, so I did a combination of both types of beans. Instead of yellow-flesh sweet potato, I used orange-fleshed sweet potato, since I didn't have the yellow tubers on hand. I decided to reduce the onions to make the dish a touch more kid-friendly, and also increased the amount of diced apple. I had a handful of fresh green beans in the fridge needing attention, so I trimmed and chopped those cuties and mixed them in as well. The other change I made were using curry powder instead of curry paste (um, my curry paste had been sitting in the fridge a little tooooo long, and I didn't want to chance using it)! Here you see the mix of ingredients, and I really liked how the black beans and orange taters gave such vibrant color!...

While it cooked, I put on a pot of brown basmati rice and let that do it's thing. Don't you love the smell of brown basmati rice??... gives a sweet, nutty, popcorn aroma through the house! To serve, simply scoop up a serving of that delicious rice on one side of a bowl, and then a hefty ladling of the casserole on the other side of the bowl (sprinkled with some fresh parsley - or cilantro, if you're a fan!), and dig in! Oh, I should mention that a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice on each serving sort of livens up all the flavors and makes it that much more delicious!

14 comments:

Ruby Red said...

I have to agree with you, the smell of basmati rice is just magical! It makes my apartment smell like an Indian restaurant. Yum.

Wow, I bet the casserole was great with all those colors, and I love curry with sweet potatoes!

Anonymous said...

There's something about cooking Indian food when it's cold outside! Love the colors!

Eating Consciously said...

I sure do love curry. This looks delicious!

Anonymous said...

I really like this variation! I was going to make the regular version a couple days ago but never got around to it...now I will have to make sure I do!

johnhenry said...

I love that casserole! I make it for new moms (and for our family pretty regularly)

I'll have to make it with the variations. Thanks!

Laci said...

Wow that combination of flavors looks heavanly! I love your book Vive and my mum (non veg) has even come to adore some vegan recipes because or the quality, convienience and of course, taste! I'm more of a little cruelty free baker, and one of my favorites are your "energy cookies", and the chocolate hemp squares. I also am ordering your other book, ED&bV and I'm really excited to try it out! ANy favorites you'd recormend! Thanks for listening to me babble on about being such a fan!=)
P.S. One of the things I really love about your books is the tome/energy you bring, it's not agressive or spooky-health freak, just casual and up beat with lots of anecdotes to add life to your books! =)

Anonymous said...

I've been itching to try cooking up an Indian dish for the first time (delicious basmati rice aside), and this seems like the perfect recipe to win over my non-veggie boyfriend with! I love the ingredients, can't wait to try it!

INGRID said...

can I ask a beginner-cook question? when you changed the curry paste to curry powder, did you change the amount that you used? more or less? thanks!! PS: you'll be pleased to know that I was able to by your cookbooks here in South Korea!

INGRID said...

me again. And I'll be using this recipe to win over to South Korean friends tomorrow, so I'll let you know how that goes! Korea is the land of "ham is a vegetable, what the heck do you mean you don't eat meat or dairy" so it's always interesting...

Brandi said...

Looks delicious and colorful!

Michelle.S said...

I've made this casserole 3 times in the last few weeks! It is great at this time of year. I made it a few days ago with a batch of basmati rice for a friend who had been in hospital with her baby for a week to help them recover... her husband returned the dishes today and said she had eaten it all by the next morning... she had the leftovers for breakfast! lol, i guess she liked it. I am into serving it with a sweet onion chutney right now. yum!

Dreena said...

hiya guys, so nice to read all of your comments... thanks!

Laci, I take your words as a big compliment (not at all as babbling on)! It is wonderful to hear that you and your mom are both enjoying recipes from Vive - and I think you'll enjoy ed&bv as well (if you like the energy cookies in Vive, be sure to try the Supercharge Me cookies in ed&bv!). I also appreciate your feedback about how my book "communicates" to you... I like to think of myself as not too "out there" (even though the diet is viewed as such by many)!! Much more happy cooking your way...!

Hi Ingrid, I did reduce the amount of curry powder - the measure of curry paste in the recipe is 1 tbsp, and I think I used about 2 tsp of curry powder - but again, I wanted the kids to eat it so I was trying to keep the heat and spiciness a little on the milder side. I do generally find that curry paste is 'hotter' than curry powder (even the mild varieties), so I think if you want to use a full tbsp of curry powder, you certainly could. Maybe start with 2 tsp, and halfway through baking test the juice and see if you'd like it more intense - that way you can add more and let it cook through the rest of the way. (p.s. if ham is a vegetable, I don't want to know what 'fruit' is... scary!!) :)

Anonymous said...

i love this recipe!! i made it a few months ago and other bloggers have made it too and they love it as well. i am not much of a savory food person so i used the sweet potatoes and added apples too. it was great.

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