Chickpea & Potato Curry

This rich, flavorful curry is a simple weeknight meal that the whole family will fall in love with.

One of my absolute favorite cuisines is Desi food, which really consists of Pakistani, Indian or Bengali flavors. I fell in love with the rich array of curries, masalas and spices while living in Saudi Arabia. As a kid you could always find me, without fail, sitting on my friend’s kitchen tables, eating their mom’s delicious food. Because i had a lot of Desi friends, i instantly fell in love with the rich cuisine and made it my goal to create approachable variations on the traditional dishes that their mothers and grandmothers so laboriously spent time over in the kitchen. I don’t claim for this recipe to be in any way authentic, but i do claim for it to have an array of the same flavors and spices in an easy and approachable recipe that can be made on a weeknight.

Give it a try, leave some feedback and some love. If you make this recipe and want to share on social media, use the hashtag #HHrecipes

Total Time: 2 hours

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb of baby red potatoes  
2. 3 tbsp vegetable oil

3. 1 large yellow onion

4. 4 cloves of garlic, crushed

5. 1/2 jalapeno pepper (de-seeded for less heat)

6. 1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

7. 1 can of chickpeas (15 oz)

8. 2 tsp cumin

9. 1 tbsp curry powder

10. 1 tsp turmeric

11. 1/2 cup tomato paste

12. 4 cups of water

13. 1 tbsp salt

14. 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Method:

1. Chop the baby red potatoes in half and cook them in a deep pot with your vegetable oil, on medium heat, until you see a golden color form on the outside surface of the potatoes. Do not over cook the potatoes during this step because the potatoes will be cooked for plenty of time with the sauce later on. The potatoes should remain crunchy on the outside during this step!

2. While the potatoes are sautéing, cut your onion into long, thin strips and add them to the potatoes in the pot. The onions will cook for about 3 minutes until they begin to soften and change color slightly. Do not overcook during this step.

3. Add your garlic, jalapeno pepper and cilantro to the pot of potato and onion and cook on medium heat until the cilantro wilts and the fragrance of the garlic, pepper and cilantro becomes strong.

4. Add your can of chickpeas (rinsed) to the pot along with your cumin, curry and turmeric. Sautee for 2 minutes until all of the ingredients are coated with the spice. This step is important because you want to make sure the raw spices hit the heat (through the pan) before you add your liquid. Doing this will ensure you develop a rich, deep flavor from the spices that you would not be able to get if you added them after you added your liquids.

5. Stir your tomato paste with warm water until the tomato paste has dissolved and add it to the pot along with your salt. Cover and drop the temperature to low. Allow the curry to simmer on low for about 1 hour. You will notice that the curry begins to thicken from the starches of the potatoes. Be sure to stir occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom.

6. After simmering for an hour, remove the lid and add your heavy cream. This will change the color of your curry from a deep red to an orange tinted red. Cover and simmer for another 20 minutes.

7. Remove from the heat and serve hot with rice or naan bread!