Tuesday 12th of March 2013

We had another really good meal from the slow cooker tonight.  I'm particularly proud of this one, because it ticks lots of boxes for me; it's done in the slow-cooker, it uses mainly storecupboard ingredients and it is a meat-free meal, thus providing both variety and economy.  You can use a bought curry paste with no problems (and I do on occasion), but I really like   Jamie Oliver's recipes for homemade curry pastes, which I find can be frozen very successfully 'for a rainy day', as it were.  I tend to use the tikka masala variety, though I do reduce the amount of chilli by half and eliminate the coriander leaves.  The former, for the sake of the children's taste buds, the latter because of my personal aversion to coriander leaves.  Love the seeds, but I find myself nauseated by the leaves.  Apart from chips and tinned baked beans, it is my only real food aversion.  My Dad would certainly mention andouillette at this point, but since I was tricked into eating some (on a mere technicality, I might add) as a child I, still shuddering, will never, ever touch it again.  Anyway, moving swiftly on...

Chickpea & Spinach Coconut Curry

I like to serve this with my Relaxed Raita and a basket of warmed chapatis, all the better to scoop up the curry and transfer it, slurpily, to waiting mouths...

250g slow-cooked onions or 1 can EAZY fried onions
150g curry paste (and see above)
2 x 420g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 400ml can coconut milk (use 'light' if you prefer)
1 160g bag baby spinach leaves, washed

Now, this really is the easy bit.  Put the onions in the slow-cooker pot and mix with the curry paste.  Add the chickpeas, stirring well to coat them in the oniony, spicy, oily juices.  Tip in the coconut milk and mix well.  Refrigerate overnight at this point, if you like.  Cook on LOW all day.  Ten minutes or so before you want to eat, fold the spinach leaves through the curry in the pot, then replace the lid until time to serve.

Cath xx