I stumbled across this recipe from Whole Foods, and thought it sounded absolutely delicious. I’ve been trying to eat meatless meals more often, and loved how flavorful this sounded. It wasn’t difficult at all to make, either!
The combination of spices is probably the hardest part about this dish! Otherwise, it’s easy ingredients like chickpeas, carrots, potatoes, vegetable stock, etc.
After making this, I would say it’s very important to take the time to roast the chickpeas. This keeps them from getting too soft when cooked in the stew – they keep that nice texture of being firm on the outside and soft on the inside.
Drain and rinse the chickpeas:
Spread onto a baking sheet in a thin layer, and toss with olive oil. Roast at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 (15 ounce) cans no-salt-added chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 (8 ounce) can no-salt-added tomato sauce
- 1 quart low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 pound red potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
- Preheat oven to 450°F. Stir together paprika, salt, allspice, black pepper, cardamom, cloves, coriander, cayenne, and ginger in a small bowl; set spice mixture aside.
- Toss chickpeas with a tablespoon of the oil on a large rimmed baking sheet and spread out in a single layer. Roast chickpeas, stirring occasionally, until somewhat dried out and just golden brown, 16 to 18 minutes; set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add garlic, onion and chopped ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft and golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in reserved spice mixture and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until spices are toasted and very fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce and cook 2 minutes more.
- Stir in broth, potatoes, carrots and reserved chickpeas and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until potatoes and carrots are just tender, about 20 minutes. Uncover pot and simmer until stew is thickened and potatoes and carrots are very tender, about 25-30 minutes more. The stew thickens up nicely during this time, and the carrots and potatoes end up being perfectly cooked.
The stew will be very thin when you first start cooking it all together. DO follow the recipe and cover for the first half of cook time, and uncover for the second half.
The stew thickens up nicely, and the potatoes and carrots end up perfectly cooked – not too soft or mushy.
The whole house smelled good while this was cooking – it’s a very fragrant dish. I served this in shallow pasta bowls without any accompaniments. However, this could be put over rice, couscous or quinoa, served with warm naan bread, or as a side dish with lamb. I’ll definitely be making this again.
