Spicy chickpea stew

Spicy chickpea stew

spicy chickpea stew

Spicy chickpea stew

This spicy chickpea stew can be made with spinach, kale or chard. The idea is to cut all the vegetables to the size of chickpeas or 1cm cubes. This stew is meant to be spicy so add as much or as little chilli powder as you like.

INGREDIENTS:
400g cooked chickpeas
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped
1 courgette, chopped
1 large aubergine, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 x 400g canned chopped tomatoes
300g spinach, chard or kale
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon spicy paprika
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
2 vegetable stock cubes
olive oil
salt and pepper

METHOD:
Heat some oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion and fry gently until soft. Add the other vegetables and continue to fry for another 5 or so minutes. Add the spices and mix well. Pour in the tomatoes, chickpeas and one can of water. Season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. If you are using kale or chard, chop and add to the pan. Cover and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. If you are using spinach, add it now onto the top of the tomato/chickpea mixture and cover so that the heat wilts the spinach. Stir the spinach through.

This is good served with fried eggs and garlic mayonnaise.

Braised chard recipe

Braised chard

braised chard

Braised chard

This dish is a good accompaniment for fried polenta cakes and fried eggs.

If the chard leaves are large, remove the central stalk and slice into chunks and roughly chop the leaves. If the leaves are smaller, roughly chop the entire leaf.

INGREDIENTS:
Large bunch of chard
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon capers, chopped
juice of one lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper

METHOD:
Heat some oil in a large frying pan with a lid. Add the garlic, chilli and capers and stir-fry for a minute.

Add the chard and season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan and leave to cook gently for 10-15 minutes or so until all the chard has wilted. Add the lemon juice and mix well.

If you want more liquid with this dish then add 300ml of water and a vegetable stock cube before covering. In this case, add the water and stock cube and bring to the boil. Cover and turn down the heat and leave to simmer for 15 minutes.