Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry

Pin It Now!

When the days are as busy as they are at the moment, I really regret not taking my slow cooker with me the last time I moved. I thought that my current kitchen was too small to find room for it, but on days where I get home late from work and still have a million and one things to sort out in the evening I so wish I'd open the front door to be greeted by the aroma of a quick and easy slow cooker recipe that sort of cooked itself while I was working away during the day.

I guess I could invest in a new one, but until then I'm always up for finding new quick dinners that I can make quickly and without much fuss when I get in. A lot of my inspiration for cooking at the moment comes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Veg Everyday cookbook (I already wrote about it a couple of weeks ago). There are tons of recipes in there that I want to try and best of all there are plenty that don't involve extra shopping trips for exotic ingredients and I find that I often have everything in to try them out straight away, which is an added bonus since my meal planning is a bit up in the air at the moment, but I will get back to it once this crazy month is over.

This was also the case with Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry, I had a head of cauliflower waiting to be used in the fridge and most of the other ingredients are store cupboard staples in my kitchen. I added a little hot curry powder, used chopped instead of plum tomatoes and added a few peas for a splash of colour and just because I like them. So here is my adapted version of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry.



Oh and of course don't forget to leave a comment on this post for a chance to win the cookbook give away!

Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry (serves 4-6)

1 medium-large cauliflower, trimmed and cut into medium sized florets
2tbsp vegetable oil
3 onions, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
2tsp ground coriander
2tsp ground cumin
a pinch of dried chilli flakes
2 tsp hot curry powder
2 star anise
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained
3/4 cup frozen peas
2 tsp garam masala
a handfull of fresh coriander, chopped
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Place the cauliflower in a large pan of cold water, add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Once it has come to a rolling boil, take of the heat and drain. Replace the lid and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan or a sauce pan that won't stick over medium heat.

Add the onions, garlic and grated ginger and fry for around 10 minutes, stir regularly until soft but not brown.

Add all the spices, apart from the garam masala and cook over a low heat for another 5 minutes or so, until fragrant.

Add the chopped tomatoes and drained chickpeas and stir to combine.

Add the cauliflower and enough water to just about cover everything (1/2-3/4 cup). Bring to a simmer.

Continue to simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add the frozen peas, bring back to a simmer and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so, until the cauliflower is tender and the peas heated through.

Stir in the garam masala and half of the chopped fresh coriander. Check the seasoning and add salt and freshly ground black pepper to your liking.

Sprinkle the rest of the fresh coriander over the top and serve with rice, naan or chapatis.

Enjoy!