It’s Meat Free Monday and we are doing Indian Cuisine. When it comes to curry, I like mine cooked in coconut milk. I like it thick, I like it creamy and I like it extra spicy. So you can just imagine how disappointed I was when I had everything (at least I thought so) ready for this Chickpeas Curry then I found out the most important ingredient in my curry was missing in my cupboard. I did not have any coconut milk at home, ahhhhhhh!! Panic mode. I paused for few minutes contemplating if I should wait for tomorrow to make this curry, or to make it now and add the coconut milk tomorrow. I decided to go with the later. Coconut milk to follow later, good plan.

Surprisingly, this curry turned out amazing even without the coconut milk. I’ve always had it with coconut milk so my mind was close to the idea of making it without it. Good thing that I was forced to make it without it, otherwise I wouldn’t know how great it taste even without coconut milk. I did not even bother to add it the following day, I just enjoyed it as is and I was very pleased with the taste. I would like to call this my spiced dry chicken pea curry to differentiate it with the one with coconut milk, which by the way I still plan to make for my meatless Monday.  

This is a very simple meatless dish, but it was very satisfying and filling. It was spicy, just like how I like my curry, it was very flavorful and it was really great for something so simple and basic. I can taste the creaminess and nutty texture of the chickpeas and it was even more enhanced with the mix of different kind of spices. I can see that I will be making this more often now that I have discovered how good it was even without the coconut milk. This is a very quick, healthy and filling meatless meal that you can make in 15 minutes, that fast! Next time you go to the grocery, don’t forget to grab few cans of chickpea. This could be your life saver, meal in 15 minutes! Hallelujah! 

Now, let me show you how I made it and let us have a happy Meat Free Monday. Let’s get started!

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp flavorless oil
• 1 small onion – chopped
• 3 cloves garlic – minced
• 1 small jalapeno pepper – diced
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce or 1 tbsp tomato paste (which ever you have on hand)
• 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1 Can Chickpeas
• 1 tsp lime or lemon juice

Instructions:

1. In a heated pan, add oil, onion, garlic and jalapeno pepper. Saute about 2 minutes or until onion is translucent and soft. Add salt, turmeric powder, curry powder, cumin powder, chili powder, tomato sauce or paste and sugar. Stir for about 2 minutes.
2. Add chickpeas and cook for 10 minutes. Add cilantro and lime or lemon juice. Stir for few seconds. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.

Note: I like my curry spicy so I added a lot of peppers. If you don’t like it spicy, just reduce or remove some of the peppers.

This is one meatless dish I truly love to keep, and I hope you will like it too. It’s budget friendly, it’s simple and quick to prepare, it taste great and it’s a healthier option too. It won’t hurt to go meatless 1 day in a week, right? If all meatless dishes are like this, I wouldn’t even mind having it more than once a week.

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