Two Chickpea Stews

It’s the end of January and despite good intentions, I haven’t managed to post anything all month. It’s been a not-so-great month of sickness and a very busy start to the semester for me.

Today I have two chickpea-based stews to share. I love chickpeas. I love their taste and also how versatile they are.

The first one is this chickpea and chorizo stew from Nigel Slater. I was a bit sceptical that this stew wouldn’t be full of flavour, because all it has for seasoning is smoked paprika. (I actually added some salt & pepper). I needn’t have worried. This was rich and very flavourful. It was my first time cooking with chorizo (I used regular cooking chorizo from Brindisa) and I was really happy with this. I will make it again.

The second one was brought to my attention by my dad: chickpea, coconut, and turmeric stew. If you Google “the stew,” this is the third result. It has a 5* rating on NYT recipes, so I decided I had to give it a go. I’d rate this 4/5. I really liked it, but for me it needed more salt and more acid. It was slightly cloyingly creamy. Not so cloying as to be bad — far from it. But if/when I make this again, I think I will only use one can of coconut milk. The turmeric is really nice, and the it manages to be very healthy and delicious at the same time.

 

Curried Carrot and Coconut Soup

It’s hard to believe that only 2 weeks remain of the academic semester for me. The fall term always goes by so quickly. This has been a bit of a strange term for me as I navigate the post-PhD job market (a nightmare), tie up loose ends of my PhD, and plan my next research projects, all the while trying to make a living in London — difficult at the best of times.

As a lecturer one’s schedule changes each semester, which I personally don’t mind as it means variety and flexibility. However, this term’s schedule has been particularly challenging when it comes to meal planning and cooking, since the only night that I am actually able to get “into” the kitchen at a decent hour is Friday. Every other night I have to plan things carefully because either (a) I get home late (Tues, Weds, Thurs) and/or H. is teaching in our flat (Mon, Weds, Thurs), which means I can’t cook (open plan is a blessing and a curse!).

This means a lot of meal planning and advance prep. I use a number of strategies to ensure we still eat well and at a decent hour. I try to get a head start on Sundays and either pre-make Monday and/or Tuesday’s meal, or do a lot of advance prep so that they don’t require time to throw together.

This brings me onto soup. For the past couple of years I have made soups most weekends from October-April. They usually last for a weekend lunch plus one lunch or evening meal during the week. Since I usually go to the market on Saturday mornings I always have fresh vegetables on hand. This one from the NYT caught my eye recently. I always have lots of carrots and it seemed like a good combination of creamy and spicy. As with most soups, it’s easy to make. Just don’t make the mistake I did: it calls for a cup (roughly ~230mls) of coconut milk. I got a bit lazy and just dumped a whole can (400mls) in. Don’t do that. It was too creamy. Not creamy enough that I couldn’t eat it, but it wasn’t a good idea. Also, the spice in this is subtle. If you like a spicier version I’d recommend upping the cayenne. Otherwise, this gets the full stamp of approval from me.

 

Let them eat soup!

Cauliflower is in season at the moment in the UK and there is tons of it around. If I ignore the bland steamed cauliflower of my childhood, it is a wonderfully adaptable and delicious vegetable! I made this soup for a weekday lunch after seeing it on M.’s blog. While I can’t say it was one of my favourite soups ever, I did like it and we ate it for lunch two days in a row. Upon first tasting, I found it a little bland. This could be because I added too much water or that my curry powder was just not right. With the addition of a little Thai curry paste and its taste improved! With the coconut milk it’s a variation on creamed cauliflower soups (see my favourite one here), so something different to try!

Curried cauliflower soup (bowl is new from Portugal!)

Un Assaggio of food, wine, & marriage

When it is -40 outside it is all about comfort eating. In my opinion there is nothing more  comforting than a steamy bowl of mac and cheese soup (healthy eating people!). The past few months I have been loving cauliflower, which is new for me. As a child I decided I did like vegetables that looked like trees – no judgement please. Sadly this aversion to trees has stuck into adulthood.. broccoli, asparagus tips need not apply I was not interested… Until cauliflower won me over. It is a wonderful versatile veggie! I’ve experimented with cauliflower quite a bit these last few months, but my favorite is soup.  I came across a recipe for Curried Cauliflower Soup that sounded too good to pass up.  Enter the deep freeze that has been plaguing my fair city these past few days and it seemed like a good time to give this healthy…

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