Sometimes you want food quickly, without a fuss, and it’s fine if it doesn’t include meat; and Coconut Curry Chickpeas hit all of those marks for me.

Whether you call it chickpeas or channa, the versatility of this legume continues to leave me in awe. Some of my more toss-it-and-forget-it recipes, feature chickpeas for that reason alone. Stew? Sure! Creamy salad? You betcha! Icing made out of chickpea liquid (aquafaba)? Tried it, don’t think I did it right but people do it! It’s only right that chickpeas or channa is awesome curried.

I’ll admit, until I got to UWI (university) I never took meat breaks in my diet. With a mom allergic to all seafood, eating pescatarian or vegetarian never crossed my mind. Especially since before UWI I surely wasn’t volunteering to cook. I mean, who does that? However when you’re a university student, in a foreign island, scrimping and saving with no parents around to do a drive by raid of the fridge, a low budget meal with beans sounds really appetizing. That and having amazing flatmates from other Caribbean islands, particularly Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago meant that I was going to learn how to properly curry, even if it killed me. Not an exaggeration, we almost burned the flat down one day when a tamarind dipping sauce for pholourie started cooking once more on the stove (no one knows to this day what happened). I sometimes lie down and think about that moment where a little smoke made my life flash before my eyes.

This same flat is where I had the first taste of curried chickpeas. One of my closest friends first made Coconut Curry Chickpeas for the flat when we attempted to make sada roti. The chickpeas were great, the sada roti …with an involved process and recipe guesstimates turned out a little more on the biscuit side, texture wise. As my Trini flatmate would say…”it still lash though”. And since then I pull this recipe out of the recesses of my mind for when I’m with her, and also when I really want something to fill me up.

Coconut Curry Chickpeas is a mild dish that you can add as the main component in a wrap or a side, or one of numerous sides for rice.

Coconut Curry Chickpeas (Channa)

Hadi Sometimes you want food quickly, without a fuss, and it’s fine if it doesn’t include meat; and Coconut Curry Chickpeas hit all of those marks for me. Whether you call it chickpeas or channa, the versatility of this legume continues... Recipes coconut curry chickpeas European Print This

Serves: 2/3 Prep Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 15 15

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp roasted cumin (geera)
• 1 1/2 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 cup of pumpkin, small cubed - optional*
• 1 large can of chickpeas (channa)
• 1/2 can of coconut milk

Instructions

In a large skillet, heat the oil.
Once hot, add the spices and sugar and stir into the oil, until it becomes fragrant, careful not to burn it.
If you are including pumpkin, add now. Please note this addition might require more salt.
Let pumpkin soften and cook 3/4 of the way.
Add the chickpeas and stir to combine.
Add coconut milk, cover, and let mixture thicken. Feel free to mush some of the chickpeas to add to the texture.
Serve with rice, roti or in my case, an oiled and grilled tortilla.