Cooking this curry is such a great way to really make use of your spice cupboard as it is full of wonderful spices and is so simple to make as it only takes about 10 minutes to prepare and an additional 30 minutes to cook.
It is also a great curry when you are serving a crowd as you can easily increase the quantities and then leave it to cook while preparing the rest of the dinner. It is excellent if you have children as you can easily adjust the amount of cayenne pepper to make it as hot or mild as you like. Lately I have been making this curry almost on a weekly basis as everyone in the household loves it and it includes mostly staple ingredients.
This curry is really versatile, I often add a bag of spinach leaves to the curry a couple of minutes before serving and you can easily exchange the sweet potato and chickpeas for other vegetables or pulses you have at home. I find cauliflower, green beans, pumpkin or butternut squash and lentils work great as substitutes, but do give it a try and add your own favourite vegetables!
I often serve this curry in the week with some brown rice or home-made flatbreads or add a simple yoghurt, mint and cucumber raita, chutney or pickles to make it a bit more festive.
Any leftovers taste delicious the next day in a wrap with some grated carrots and baby spinach or can be frozen.
Super simple sweet potato and chickpea curry
Serves approx 4
Ingredients
1 large onion roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
4 whole cloves
1.5 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ceylon cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger or 1 inch fresh ginger finely chopped
pinch of cayenne pepper (add more if you want it to be hot!)
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
400 g tinned chopped tomatoes
400 ml coconut milk
150 ml water or stock
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2-1 tsp sea salt
400 g of cooked chickpeas
1 lime (zest and juice)
1 bunch of fresh coriander (30 g)
Directions:
Gently fry the onion and garlic in some coconut oil for 5-10 minutes until softened and turning translucent.
Add the spices to the onion and garlic mixture and let it fry together (be careful not to burn the spices) for a minute before adding the sweet potatoes, chopped tomatoes, coconut milk, water or stock and salt and pepper.
Leave to simmer on a gentle heat for around 15-20 minutes until the sweet potatoes start to go soft and then add in the cooked chickpeas, lime juice and lime zest for the last 10-15 minutes. The cooking time can vary slightly depending on the hardness and size of the sweet potato pieces, so check every now and then and add extra liquid if needed.
Before serving, check seasoning and add chopped coriander right before serving.
Tastes great served with rice or flatbreads, raita or plain yoghurt, wedges of lime and pickles.