Recipe: Indian Style Vegan Stew

I was feeling quite a bit under the weather after the Christmas show (I caught some sort of bug), so I haven't been cooking much since a fever and feeling ultra lousy just aren't conducive to wanting to cook, at least in my books.

So I've been eating what my mom has been cooking - which is always nice, she's an excellent cook, but with the new information I recently learned from Tamara about the treatment of so called "free-range" animals, I really don't feel great about eating meats and my mom's cooking is, well, the old traditional way of cooking in North America.

But bless her heart, she is open to trying new things, and with my 5 year stint living in the Caribbean, I have learned to appreciate legumes a lot, as meats are quite expensive over there since most of it (except for chicken and black belly lamb) is imported in. So over the years I've spent in the Islands, I've learned and enjoyed various recipes and some have become my favorites.

I'm not claiming to become Vegetarian or even Vegan over night or anything like that, but I definitely want to incorporate more Vegetarian and Vegan meals into my diet. I'll talk more about this in a separate post.

I'm a big fan of black eyed peas, lentils and chickpeas, so today I'm sharing what I made last night for dinner. Mom ate it and enjoyed it, but the guys (my husband and my dad) had something else that my mom had made instead. Vegan and Vegetarian cooking is not their thing (well, not yet anyway... )

This recipe is so quick and so easy to make. It's delicious and very filling... and dang, I think it looks super awesome on my plate, don't you?

Feel free to try it and let me know what you think!

Indian Style Vegan Stew

serves 3-4

2 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tbsp curry powder (I use 'medium')
1/3 tsp ground ginger (or more if you like, I'm not a huge fan of ginger)
1 1/2 cups of tomato sauce*
1 can (15-19 oz) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 tbsp lime juice (optional)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Serve on a bed of rice (in this picture, I served it on some leftover vegetable rice that we had in the fridge from the night before).

Directions:

Take a large non-stick frying pan and heat up the vegetable oil on medium heat. Add in the chopped onions and a bit of salt & pepper, and cook them, stirring frequently. Once the onion starts to become a bit translucent (3-4 minutes), add in the chopped garlic cloves, and cook 1-2 minutes longer.

Add in the curry powder and ginger, mix well in the onions and garlic, and cook until the flavors come alive, about 1 minute.

Add in the pan the tomato sauce* (I make my own tomato sauce and I always have some on hand, but you can use a 15-19 fl.oz can of puréed tomatoes and just pour it in, or purée a can of diced or whole tomatoes using a hand blender), the chickpeas, and the water. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to 'low' to let the stew simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally, until it has thickened up to your liking, about 15-20 minutes.

I don't use lime juice in mine, but if you want it, you can add it in at the end, then season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve on top of a bed of warm rice.

Enjoy!