Saturday, February 24, 2007


Ginger Chickpea Stew...


My favorite dinner this week was inspired by a recipe in one of my "heart smart" cookbooks. The original had chickpeas and tomatoes, broth and spices. I thought there wasn't enough going on for a filling meal, so I revamped the recipe based on my tastes and what I had on hand at the moment. The result was delicious, filling and very nutritious:


Ginger Chickpea Stew

Put all of this in a big pot:

1 quart vegetable broth
2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 sixteen ounce can)
1 small red onion chopped
4 cloves garlic minced or chopped
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
1 potato grated
1 potato cut in small cubes
1 sweet potato cut in small cubes
1 cup chopped spinach


Season with:


1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon coriander
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Put the lid on and cook over medium heat until potato and sweet potato cubes are falling apart and shredded potato has thickened the broth; 30 to 40 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Note: You could sauté the onion and garlic in extra virgin olive oil before adding the broth and other ingredients. It’s so good without that though, that I prefer to skip the oil and keep things lower in fat. Also, this is a slightly sweet stew. For a change of pace Southwestern or Indian Spices would also be delicious. I'm going to try one of those options the next time I make this stew.

My omnivore husband loved this in his thermos for lunch the next day. He told a co-worker that he liked it even better than the beef stew I sent with him the day before.

photo by Haiku, February 2007

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This sounds like it would be great served with some Naan and a Mediterranean type salad on the side. Yummy!

Marcie said...

Grace, I think that would be *so* good! We had ours with homemade wholegrain toast, but skipped the salad because I was too lazy! lol! Next time!

Patty said...

You have been cooking up some great looking food !
I am anxious to try the banana oat scones, they look so good

Marcie said...

Thanks Patty! You've had some good looking food cooking at your place too! I'm sort of hoarding a banana I have on hand here to make those scones again! Someone will probably use it on their granola this morning though! :)

Michele said...

Oooh, this looks delicious! I'm adding it to my upcoming menu plan, I just looooove ginger! Thanks for sharing, Aisling!