Chickpea Coconut Curry | The Tastiest Recipe

What's going on everyone and welcome to the channel. My name's Jack and I'm here to give you 100% confidence in the kitchen and together we can learn and cook the most fantastic and delicious foods. Have you ever found yourself contemplating whether or not you should use chickpeas in your recipes? Well in this one I'm going to get you thinking twice about the next time you might say no to them by showing you how to make the most rich, delicious and creamy coconut chickpea curry. If you're new to the channel I'm a chef by trade and my whole purpose is to teach you absolutely everything I know so please sit back, relax and enjoy. Alright guys, let's start this off with one medium to large sized brown onion. All we want to do is slice off the end opposite the root, lay it on the flat surface and slice it in half through the root. We can then remove the skin and yep, you guessed it, save it for a stock. What we're then going to do is dice the onion by making thin slices stopping at the root. Slice the onion in half through the centre again stopping at the root and then come through and finely dice the onion. Make sure to trim off any excess flesh from around the root to avoid any wastage and we can also save the roots for a stock. Next grab yourself one medium to large sized red bell pepper which is also known as a capsicum. Place it core side down with the bottom sticking up towards you and carefully slice around the core to make nice even sized slices. Also doing it this way is a lot cleaner than slicing it in half because you won't have any seeds flying all over your board or kitchen. Once that's done all you're left with is the core, seeds and pith to which we can chuck into a compost bin. Now with the slices it seems logical to slice them skin side up but unless your knife is razor sharp it's dangerous to do so and the knife could possibly slip and cause serious damage. So what we're going to do is flip the pepper over and slice it into nice thin strips. This way you won't have to use much pressure and you'll end up with nice clean slices. Now the last ingredient we're going to prepare is 5 cloves of freshly peeled garlic and all we want to do is run it along a fine microplane or grater to create a paste which is also known as mince. And then once that's done make sure to scrape out any garlic just to avoid any wastage. Now to cook this place a large heavy base pot onto your stove top over a high heat and once hot pour in 2 tablespoons or 30ml of olive oil. Then to this we're going to add in our diced onion and saute this off for 2 minutes for the onion to slightly soften and colour stirring it around pretty frequently. Once that's done we're going to add in the garlic paste or minced garlic as well as the thinly sliced red bell pepper or capsicum and continue sauteing for 3 minutes stirring it regularly just for the pepper to soften and for the garlic to release its flavour. Once that's been sauteing for 3 minutes we're going to chuck in 2 tablespoons or 10g of ground cumin for a warm earthy flavour and aroma, 1 tablespoon or 8g of sweet paprika which is going to add great colour as well as a slight sweetness, half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper which is optional and will add a great spice to the dish, and 1 teaspoon of sea salt flakes to which we're going to mix through the vegetables and fry for 15-20 seconds to release maximum flavour and make sure to mix this around the whole time just so it doesn't burn. After 20 seconds we're going to pour in half a cup or 120ml of vegetable or chicken stock to deglaze the pot as well as adding great depth to the dish and give that a quick mix just for 10 seconds. Next pour in 400ml or 1 can of coconut milk which is going to be our sweet, floral and slightly nutty base, 400g or 1 can of diced tomatoes which is the second part of the base to this dish and make sure to get it all in there just to avoid any wastage, 2 tablespoons or 25g of brown sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes and for the main ingredient add in 800g or 2 cans of chickpeas and if you're going to be using dried chickpeas make sure to check out the description down below for the way to soak and prepare them for this dish. Anyway, once all those ingredients are in, let's mix this all together for those flavours to become friends. Once mixed give it a quick check for seasoning to which I'm going to add in 1 teaspoon of sea salt flakes and 2 teaspoons or 20 cracks of black pepper which some of you may disagree with me adding pepper to this dish but it adds a great kick to so many dishes so why not. We can then mix that through so the seasoning can join in on the flavour friendship and bring this to a boil. Once at a boil give it another quick mix to get those flavours moving around then reduce the heat to low and allow this to simmer away for 15 minutes giving it a stir every 5 minutes or so and during this time the sauce will reduce and thicken up creating amazing flavour as well as a fantastic deep red colour. This has now been 15 minutes and you can see that the sauce has really thickened up and that colour has become a really deep red. We can then add in 1.5 cups or 70g of fresh baby spinach which is going to add additional nutrition values as well as a great contrast of colour and all we need to do is gently mix this through just until it softens up which will take roughly 20-30 seconds. Once that's done we can stop mixing, turn it off the heat and remove it from the stovetop. Then just quickly to cook some rice place a large heavy base saucepan onto your stovetop and chuck in 1 cup or 200g of basmati rice that's been rinsed under cold water to remove any impurities and excess starch which will also reduce the chances of gloopy rice. To this add in 1 star anise for a nice earthy aniseed flavour, 2 green cardamom pods for beautiful aromatics, 1 dried or fresh bay leaf for a herbal flavour as well as fragrance, 1 teaspoon of sea salt flakes and last but not least 1.5 cups or 370ml of cold water. Give it a quick stir to break up any clumps of rice if there are any and what we can then do is place this onto a high heat and bring it to a boil. Once boiling chuck on a lid, reduce the heat to low and allow the rice to cook for 12 minutes completely undisturbed. After 12 minutes we can turn it off the heat, leaving the lid on so it can continue steaming and move it to a cooler part of your stovetop just for a further 10 minutes. Once that's done we can then remove the lid being careful of the escaping steam and remove the spices as they're no longer needed. Then using a spatula or a fork gently fluff up the rice to loosen the grains and make sure that there's no clumps. This can then be removed from the stovetop and we can start assembling the dish. I like to place a nice pile of rice in the centre of the bowl, then spoon over that deliciously rich and creamy chickpea curry. To top it we can add some yoghurt for a tasty tang as well as adding a great balance to the dish. Some fresh coriander or cilantro for some colour and also a nice little bit of flavour. Some fresh thinly sliced chilli which is optional. And to finish it off a wedge of lime that will add the most delicious acidic and citrusy note which we can then squeeze over the top and finally dig in. After experimenting with this dish I can happily say that that is spot on. The flavours are extremely well balanced with it being slightly sweet and umami flavour as well as being rich, creamy and extremely fragrant. This recipe makes 4 serves and it can easily be doubled, tripled and so on. It can be placed in the fridge for up to 5 days and it can also be frozen for up to 6 months. To reheat it you can place it in the microwave or you can chuck it in a pan and reheat it over a medium heat. I really hope you enjoyed this video and I was able to teach you something. If you did be sure to smash that like button and consider subscribing to see hundreds of more fantastic recipes. Thanks for watching everyone, stay safe and enjoy!