Little posting, lots of cooking

January was an interesting month.  I found myself sick often and quite tired, but somehow, it was a rather nice little month.  I spent a lot of time with lovely people, a lot of time drinking hot cocoa and a lot of time in my kitchen. 

I'm still working my way through Jamie's Recipe Yearbook, and have now reached the point where I'm probably going to name my first-born Jamie.  Guys, this book is full of delicious.  Even the really simply recipes have you making those weird satisfied noises that food (and a few other things) can involuntarily elicit.  Jamie Oliver is an adorable, simple food genius. 

The second recipe I cooked from the book was a nice wintery curry - the Sweet Potato, Chickpea and Spinach Curry.  The curry I ended up making bore little resemblance to the curry in the book, mainly because I didn't know what rogan josh paste was (I later googled it and it's some sort of Patak's sauce).   While I changed the vast majority of the recipe, the combination of chickpeas, sweet potato and spinach he suggests is really wonderful. 

 

Sweet Potato, Chickpea and Spinach Curry
loosely based on a recipe from Jamie Magazine's Recipe Yearbook 2012/13

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot
2 tsp - 1 tbsp curry powder, to taste
2 tsp - 1 tbsp garam masala, to taste
1/2 tsp cumin
chili flakes, to taste
2 cm chunk of ginger, grated
bunch of cilantro, leaves picked and stalks finely chopped
2 small sweet potatoes, cut into small chunks
10oz (half a can) of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
14 oz can of tomatoes (I prefer whole tomatoes and pulse them in the food processor so they're still quite chunky)
1/2 cup water
200ml coconut milk
200gr spinach, washed
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1.   Heat olive oil in a pot over medium heat.  Add the shallot and cook until soft.
2.   Add curry powder, garam masala, cumin and cook for a minute, until spices are
      fragrant.
3.   Add chili flakes, ginger, cilantro stalks, sweet potato and chickpeas and cook for 5
      minutes.
4.   Add the tomatoes and water and bring curry to a boil.  Reduce the heat, cover and
      simmer for 10-15 minutes.
5.   Remove the lid and cook for another 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
6.   When the sweet potato has softened and the sauce has thickened, add the coconut
      milk and cook for a few minutes.
7.   Add the spinach and cook for a few more minutes.
8.   Season with salt and pepper and add the cilantro leaves. 
9.   Eat this delicious curry with some rice or dosas.