As I set the plates down, I had to laugh. Everything was the same color! Even the orange stoneware dishes blended in to the tawny hues of the food. But looks, as they say, can be deceiving. The flavors were anything but beige.
I felt like cooking, but I didn't have hours. I thought about what I had on hand, and then I remembered reading Lori's post about her curried chick peas on her blog, Fake Food Free. I could definitely do that. On the counter were some beautifully green and yellow delicata squash which would go well on the side. Because ChuckieT isn't a big fan of brown rice, I opted for quinoa to pour the curry over. Protein, check. Veggies, check. Grain, check. The three building blocks of a balanced meal were represented. Dinner was born.
I modified Lori's recipe a little, mostly because I didn't have any curry powder, and she calls for chicken broth, which I don't eat. So here's what I used:
Ingredients
1 15 oz. can chick peas (garbonzo beans), drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic (okay, I may have cheated and used almost three. In my defense, they came off the head that way - two were stuck together), minced
1/4 of a medium white onion, chopped
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
several pinches of sea salt as the garlic and onions cook
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 pinch cinnamon (I didn't have any cardamon)
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon potato starch
1/2 cup coconut milk
I mostly followed Lori's directions.
Saute the onion and garlic until translucent. (I put the garlic in first, with a pinch of salt. Then the onions and another pinch of salt. I don't know where I got it from, but I always start with the garlic.) Add the spices to toast for 30 seconds or so and then add the chick peas, stirring to coat. Pour in the broth and turn up the heat until it boils, then cover and simmer for five minutes or so.
It was at about this point that I read Lori's recipe more carefully and realized I was using about a 1/2 a cup to a cup fewer chick peas that she did, and the veggie broth wasn't really thickening a whole lot, so I added the potato starch to get things back on track. I didn't want to end up with curry soup. Once it was thickened, I added the coconut milk, turned off the burner and stirred it in.
The quinoa was cooked with salt, pepper, and a pinch of dried tarragon. I would have used cumin seeds, had I had any. They're going on the shopping list along with the cardamon. (We had a little melting incident involving our spices and our extra large cast iron skillet, which wiped out a good portion of our spice stock. Oh well, I suppose some of them needed replacing anyway...)
I sliced the delicata in half, scooped out the seeds and strings and put some butter (coconut oil also works well), cinnamon and cayenne in the resulting bowl, then stuck them in a 450 degree oven and forgot about them for about 45 minutes. At that point, the heavenly smell was too powerful to ignore. Usually I baste them as they cook, but they still turned out quite tasty. And went very well with the curry.
When the squash was nearly done, I turned off the oven and stuck some whole wheat naan from the freezer in to warm, and then served it all up. ChuckieT even had seconds!
