Chickpea and Sweet Potato Curry

After the Maldivian Cooking Class, I was excited to put what I learned to good use and give a good curry dish a go.  Williams-Sonoma has great recipes (and needless to say I have been there quite a bit doing some registry close out!), and after a bit of searching I found this Chickpea and Sweet Potato Curry that more than fit the bill.

My First Curry Dish

Recipe Adapted from Williams-Sonoma



2 Tbs. olive oil

1 small yellow onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 Tbs. chopped fresh ginger

2 Jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely chopped

1 Tbs. curry powder

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 can (15 oz.) chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 can (14 fl. oz.) coconut milk, well shaken

1 cup water

1/2 cup frozen edamame

1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained

The Ingredients

First things first, since I had no idea how long it would take me (and previously with a squash it took forever) I peeled and chopped up the sweet potato and set it aside for later.

Chopped Sweet Potato

Next, I set to work on the garlic.  I saw this trick for preparing garlic on TV once and it works pretty well once you are OK slamming your hand onto your rather sharp knife.  I cut the ends off the clove and place it under the flat side of my knife (the wider, Santoku knives, work really well for this).  I hit the top of the knife with the heel of my hand and it squishes it rather nicely, allowing the peel to come off quickly.

Mincing garlic

See, it works!

I continued to prep the garlic and jalapenos.  I left in a few seeds and the ribs of the jalapenos because I like things a bit more on the spicy side!

Garlic and Jalapenos

I continued with the onion and ginger and poured them into the bottom of a pot with hot oil.

Chopped and Ready

In the pot...

After about 4 or 5 minutes of cooking the mixture and stirring occasionally, the onion turned  translucent and the kitchen was smelling great.  This is where the fun stuff was added - the curry powder.

CURRY!

I stirred it in and continued to stir it constantly for another 30 seconds until it was fragrant.  Next I seasoned with some salt and pepper.

Adding the curry

Mixed-In

Once the curry paste was ready to go the meal was straight forward to finish.  I added the sweet potato, chickpeas, coconut milk and water (adding a bit less than the requested cup) into the pan.  I raised the heat up to a medium/high, waited for the contents of the pot to boil, then reduced the heat and allowed it to simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes (until the sweet potatoes were tender).

Waiting for it to boil

After the potatoes were soft, I added the edamame and tomatoes and continued to let it simmer until everything was cooked through.

Almost ready

Once everything was warm and tender, I poured the curry over some jasmine rice and it was ready to go.

Dinner is ready!

This was a delicious dish that had loads of flavor and dimension in each bite.  It was satisfying and filling despite having no meat in there.  The curry was not overwhelming by any means - in fact, I could have even used some more!  The dish had some good spice and heat that was complex - I was happy I left the seeds and ribs there.

This was a great curry dish to warm up with, and it left me with the  confidence to try again!