Spicy Chickpea Stew

On this blog you won’t usually find many spicy recipes, simply because this is not my style. I love using fresh home-grown ingredients and prefer actually being able to taste them! Occasionally though I fancy something a little hotter. If you like your food spicy you will probably want to ramp up the quantities of spices in this recipe as it should be fairly mild otherwise.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

225g dried chickpeas (soaked, cooked until tender, then drained)

2 onions, peeled and chopped

225g carrots, peeled and sliced

100g sweetcorn

175g broad beans

2tsp ground coriander

1 ½ tsp ground cumin

1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

600ml water

3tbsp tomato puree

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Method:

- Heat approximately 2 tsps olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and carrots and fry gently for 10 minutes.

- Stir in the spices and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, stirring.

- Stir in the sweetcorn, broad beans, chickpeas, then add the water and tomato puree. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down so that the chickpea stew simmers.

- Simmer the mixture for approximately 1 hour, covered with the lid slightly ajar to allow steam to escape. After 1 hour remove the lid and turn up the heat, allowing the mixture to reduce as you wish. 

- Season to taste with salt and pepper.

- Serve with brown rice and garnish with fresh coriander or parsley.