As with lots of my Live Below the Line recipes, this one
is based on another (slightly more luxurious) recipe of mine that uses cheap
ingredients to create big flavours. Chickpeas are my absolute heroes when it
comes to curry, because I love to use them as a basis for homemade curry paste.
As well as adding a beautiful smoky flavour and thickening up sauces a treat,
chickpeas will also make your curry gorgeously creamy, even if you don’t have
any natural yoghurt to add. My husband declared this the best Live Below the Line
meal so far – for more on why we’re living below the line, click here.
Ingredients
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
Butter for frying
1 tin of chickpeas
2 tbsp tomato purée
A pinch of curry powder
A pinch of salt
300g rice, to serve
Serves 2, with
enough left over for 1 lunch the day after
Start by preparing the curry paste. Empty the chickpeas
& the liquid from the tin into a bowl and microwave for five minutes, in
bursts of one minute (this will stop the liquid boiling over). Drain, saving
the liquid, and then put half of the chickpeas into a jug or a bowl with the
tomato puree, curry powder and salt, and blend to a reasonably smooth paste.
Add a splash of the saved water if it looks too dry.
Next, peel and finely chop the garlic and onion, and get
it sizzling in a scoop of melted butter. Once the onion is nicely softened, add
the curry paste and the remaining chickpea water, and stir well to make a nice
smooth sauce. You may need to add a bit more water if it’s looking like it won’t
go far enough. Allow it to simmer gently while you cook the rice, and then
serve together.
