Sluttishly Vegetarian: Chickpea Curry

Someone once told me that if you can cook with chickpeas, you will never be hungry. And it's true: they're cheap, nutritious, and you can turn them into hummous and yummy spicy curry. This is quick (especially compared to lots of curry recipes), hearty and warming and the ingredients cost about a quid from your local Indian shop. It serves two hungry people and goes beautifully with pilau rice or chapattis.

You will need:

• 1 tin of chickpeas, plus the water from the tin
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 5cm ginger, peeled and grated
• 3 chillis
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 2 tbsp garam masala
• Passata
• 2 tsp tamarind paste
• Half a lemon
• Fresh coriander, chopped

Make it!

1. Chop one of the chillis and fry it with the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli for a few minutes over a medium heat for about five minutes, until the onions soften.
2. Add the cumin, coriander and chilli powder. Stir for a minute.
3. Add a few tablespoons of passata. How much you add depends on how tomatoey you want the sauce. I add about four to thicken the sauce but not overwhelm the flavour.
4. Stir in the garam masala. Add the water from the chickpea tin. If you find it too salty, add some boiling water instead. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat.
5. Add the tamarind paste, chickpeas, 2 whole chillis and the lemon. Simmer it for 20 minutes, then remove the chillis and lemon.
6. Simmer for another 5-10 minutes, sprinkle on the fresh coriander and serve.

Flickr image taken from suavehouse113's photostream