Sweet Potato and Chickpea Curry

Sweet potato or kumara as we call it here is one of my favourite vegetables. When I was growing up, there was only red kumara and occasionally yellow, in recent years the orange fleshed kumara has become very popular, it is not as dense as the red and has fewer carbs.  I had switched to the orange and rarely bought the red, however by mistake I clicked on the red kumara when I doing my grocery shopping online and never picked it up when I was checking the order.  All I can say that it was a happy mistake.  It is so suitable for stews and curries as it does not breakdown like the orange, also it is not so sweet. I  think you will be seeing other recipes using it.

This curry is more of a gentle spiced curry, it can be given a bit of fire by adding chilies, just a matter of taste. 

Ingredients

1 large kumara cut into chunks

2 tomatoes or 2 whole tomatoes from a tin

1 onion sliced

1 stick celery chopped into chunks

tbs oil

1 tin chickpeas drained

vegetable stock cube dissolved in 1 cup of water

small  tin of coconut milk

1/2 ts ground cumin

1 ts ground coriander

small knob of ginger

1 ts garam masala

chili powder to taste ( I wanted this to be mild and spicy so didnt use it)  

chopped parsley

Method 

 Heat oil and add onion and celery, fry gently for 5 minutes, add spices and cook a further minute.  Add kumara and the stock cube and water, cook till the kumara is nearly tender, add tomatoes and chickpeas and coconut milk.  Cook till the kumara is soft, and another 10 minutes to thicken the sauce I served this with brown basmati rice and quinoa.

Serves 4

This recipe can be easily doubled  and freezes well.  The next day I used the leftovers (both curry and rice) to make a pie as I had some flakey puff pastry sheets in the freezer that needed using.  I just added some dried potato flakes to make sure that the mix was not too moist. Lay one sheet on tray, top with the curry  and lay a sheet on top and seal, glaze the top with some coconut milk and bake at 200C till pastry is golden.  Beautiful, reminiscent of samosas!

 

 

Lentil and Spinach Balls

These balls or fritters come together very quickly and are a great store cupboard standby.  They are like a lighter falafel and are very versatile, a snack, in a wrap or pitta bread or just on top of pilaf rice or a salad.  The recipe doubles up well, which is good as they are moreish!  The balls also freeze well. Another plus factor is that they are baked so low on fat.

 

Ingredients

tbsp oil 
1 finely chopped onion 
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 ts ground cumin
1 ts ground coriander
1 ts turmeric 
pinch cayenne or to taste
1/2 cup of dried red lentils, picked over, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cup of water
1/2 ts salt
3/4 cup finely chopped fresh spinach or half cup frozen thawed 
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley 
squeeze of lemon juice
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp ground flax seeds
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup of breadcrumbs or oats slightly pulsed in food processor

Method

 Heat oil in pan and fry the onion and garlic till onion is soft. Add spices and lentils and cook for 1 minute stirring to combine.

Add water and salt and cook for about 10 minutes, add spinach, parsley and lemon juice and cook until the lentils are soft and all liquid is absorbed. (The mixture will be soft).

 Taste and adjust seasonings. Let mix sir for a couple of minutes drain if there is too much liquid. Transfer to a large bowl and add chia seeds, flax seed and sesame seeds and mix, Chill the mix in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven 220 C, Add the breadcrumbs to the mix, if it too sticky add more ( the mix should be soft, but still can shaped in to ball with a sticky mess)
The simplest way to make the balls is to use an ice cream  scoop! Place the balls on baking paper lined tray, spray or brush with oil ane for 20 minutes or till they are firm to the touch.

 These are yummy served with lemon tahini sauce.