As part of our #SelfCareSeries, sustainable food blogger Jane Cook (HungryCityHippy) has given us a healthy, lockdown-friendly recipe for you all to try
As we are all safe in our homes, we are having a lot more home-cooked meals. If you are starting to lack inspiration on what to cook then we’ve got your back. Read on to discover HungryCityHippy’s lockdown-friendly and vegan-friendly sweet potato, chickpea and spinach curry bowl recipe.
A little bit about HungryCityHippy…
HungryCityHippy is a blog/passion project run by Jane Cook. It’s primarily a Cardiff-based food and travel site, but with a soft focus on sustainability.
“I am very much a messy, make-it-up-as-I-go type of cook; I do much better with throwing together ingredients from the fridge than I do following strict recipes. Though sometimes the results can be a bit hit and miss, it means that cooking is fun and food waste is rarely a problem, as I can always make something of what’s left in the house.
It’s a habit that’s coming in particularly handy in these strange times, when it’s not always possible to get exactly the ingredients we want. In fact, this curry was originally intended to use butternut squash in place of sweet potato, but after three failed attempts to get my hands on one, it wasn’t to be.
Swaps you can make…
If you decide to give this lockdown-friendly chunky curry bowl a go, feel free to swap the sweet potato for a butternut or any other squash (when in season, pumpkin works equally well). To keep it quick and easy I have used a pre-mixed curry powder here (usually a mixture of turmeric, chilli, ground coriander, ground cumin, ground ginger and pepper) – you can experiment with your own ground spice mixes if you prefer.
You can also experiment with different spice blends to roast off the veg – I have used a slightly sweet garam masala meaning that this curry is warm and a little bit fragrant rather than hot and spicy.
Ingredients
2 large sweet potatoes / 1 small butternut squash
1 large white onion, diced
200g (half tin) chopped tomatoes
200g (half tin) coconut milk
400g (whole tin) chickpeas
3 tsp curry powder
1 tsp mild chilli powder
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
200g fresh spinach
A handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
Store cupboard: olive oil, salt and pepper to season
Method:
– Chop the sweet potato / squash into bite sized cubes (if using sweet potato, there’s no need to peel them first).
– Tip the cubes into a large roasting tray, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with the garam masala. Mix well to coat each cube, then pop into the oven at 220 / 200 degrees (fan) for 20 minutes – or until the veg is soft and starting to get some colour on the edges.
– Meanwhile, in a large non-stick pan, fry the diced onion with the ginger garlic paste until soft and the onions are starting to go translucent.
– Add the curry powder, chilli powder and drained chickpeas, and continue to fry for another couple of minutes.
– Put in the chopped tomatoes and allow them to cook down until the mixture becomes like a paste.
– Add the coconut milk, chopped spinach and the hot spiced cubes of veg from the oven. Combine them all in the pan to create a thick, chunky vegetable curry. Taste and add seasoning as required.
Thanks to the chunky roasted veg, this curry is hearty enough to serve alone. You can also bulk it up with rice, poppadom or naan bread.
Serve with a scattering of freshly chopped coriander and a spoonful of lime pickle.
We hope you enjoyed this lockdown-friendly recipe! Let us know in the comments below if you try it or take a photo and tag @hungrycityhippy & @totmorganic on Instagram!
