Image one: Chickpea Masala (Chana Masala – inspired by Woolworths Fresh Magazine)
This week was a bit hectic. It was one of those weeks where I was thinking ‘ok, I’m going to cook this…’, then I would go looking for a recipe on pinterest or google and go ‘oh, I want to cook that too and that and that and that and that etc’. This all resulted in me using my shopping list app – Out of Milk (you should try it, it is fantastic!), on my phone for the basic stuff but then seriously walking in and out and Aldi, Coles and Woolworths a million times to make sure I had everything so I didn’t have to go out again.
I frustrated even myself and I don’t usually get that annoyed, but one trip as soon as I got back to my car, I thought, hang on, I didn’t get the carrots and I really wanted to make carrot fritters for healthy lunch burgers.
My favourite grocery store is Aldi, it didn’t use to be but I became converted and I love shopping there now, plus there is one just down the street from me, however, I find that I cannot get everything I want from there so I still have to go to Woolworth’s and Coles to get the other stuff. I don’t mind that as the 3 stores are all in a close proximity to each other, however, after getting back to my car for about the tenth time to drop something off, I thought ‘that’s it, I need to plan more when it comes to my meals for the week ahead so I can be better prepared for the shops’.
Working full time with only 2 days to get house stuff, social stuff, life stuff done, means I try and get the household shopping done on a week night, but it’s sometimes more difficult to do it in one hit so that I don’t have to make multiple trips.
Either way, this Chickpea Masala is about the 3rd thing on my list that I wanted to do this weekend and I am glad I got there in the end (1st and 2nd, still in phases on my bench).
The house smells amazing, as soon as I added the curry paste to the pan, I was taken to foreign lands, which was fantastic. Whilst I am not vegan or vegetarian, I have many friends from work who are and I like that their way of life can influence me into trying dishes that I would have found boring when I was younger.
For this week, I found a recipe for this Chickpea Masala in the Woolworth’s Fresh magazine and it looked good, so I thought I would try it. It took less than an hour to make and was not too tricky. I would even give it a go on a week night, but depending on how organised I can be on the weekends, I think that freezing it so it is already done and can be quickly reheated will give me a night off from cooking which whilst I don’t need, I find not enough time for always with work, yoga and everything else there is to achieve in a day. I would definitely cook from scratch every night without doubt as I love it so much and I like a freshly cooked meal, but I am the 1st to admit that I have found myself a couple of times, surrounded my bowls on my kitchen bench elbow deep in some bowl of ingredients on a week night and thought, ‘hmmm, maybe I should have saved this for weekend’, so that all of the cleaning up or merely the thought of it made me run for the hills. (Thank god for dishwashers I say!)
Original recipe was from Woolworth’s Fresh magazine, however, I modified it slightly.
Serves 3-4
Ingredients
1 x large red onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1/3 cup tikka masala paste
1 x can coconut cream
2 x can chickpeas
1 x can diced tomatoes
6 fresh cherry tomatoes
½ bunch fresh coriander
1 cup cooked basmati rice
Mini pasppadams to serve
Method
- Put a splash of olive oil in your frypan and add the diced red onion, fry off for about 2 minutes
- Add the garlic and ginger and continue to cook for about 2 mins.
- Add the tikka masala paste, fry this off for about 3 mins.
- Add the can of diced tomatoes, fry for 1-2 mins.
- Add the can coconut cream, stir in very well and ensure that you are happy with the consistency of the curry.
- Add the rinsed chickpeas
- Put the lid on and bring to the boil for about 2 mins.
- Once boiled, turn the stove down, keep the lid on and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Taste to make sure the chickpeas are cooking to your liking
- Transfer meal into serving dish and garnish with fresh chopped cherry tomatoes and coriander.
- Serve with basmati rice and pappadams.
Image two: Dinnertime, ready to eat!
Notes: This meal actually qualifies as both vegan and vegetarian as there is no animal products in it. I highly recommend it as your ‘Meatless Monday’ meal as you can prepare in advance and enjoy without slaving away all day in the kitchen.
