In winter, the body simply craves comfort: sweaters and blankets, fuzzy slippers, a crackling fireplace, and a bowl of hot, delicious stew to warm the tummy.
My Chickpea and Kale Stew, simmered with Indian spices, does more than warm the tummy though. It delights your tastebuds with the eclectic flavors of toothy kale, succulent sweet potato, vibrant garlic, and tangy lime. And then it goes and turns your body into a lean, mean, fat-burning machine. How’s that for perfection?
I used my pressure cooker to give me a head-start on this recipe on a busy weeknight. All I did was cook the kale and the chickpeas together until both were tender and perfect. To add to the convenience I used frozen kale, although fresh kale would also work great here. And by all means, use canned chickpeas if you want to.
I’ve been sharing Valentine’s Day recipes on this blog for the last few days and there is more to come, but I wanted to take a little break with this everyday comfort food. If you live in the northeast, I hope you are taking all the precautions you can against the nasty blizzard heading your way.
A lovely weekend to all!
Chickpea and Kale Stew
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry chickpeas
- 1 16- oz package of chopped kale
- 2 large sweet potatoes , cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 large onion , thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 5 cloves of garlic , minced
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 heaping tbsp curry powder or sambar powder
- 2 dry red chillies (optional)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
- 1 tsp canola or other vegetable oil
- Juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
- Pressure-cook the chickpeas and kale together until tender. If you don't have a pressure cooker, soak the chickpeas overnight and then place them in a pot with the kale (use fresh kale if you don't want to use the frozen). Cover with water and cook about 45 minutes to an hour or until the chickpeas are tender.
- Heat the oil in a separate pot and add the cumin seeds.
- When they sputter, add the onions and red chillies and saute until they start to brown, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the ginger and garlic and saute for a few more seconds.
- Add the sambar powder, turmeric, and coriander powder. Mix well and then add the sweet potatoes.
- Saute the sweet potatoes for five minutes or until they start to soften. Now add the chickpeas and kale and any stock from cooking the chickpeas, and bring to a boil. If the mixture is too dry, add water.
- Cover the pot and cook for another 10 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are really tender.
- Add the coconut milk and lemon juice. Stir well and turn off before the stew comes to a boil.
- Serve hot over some rice or bulgur or couscous.
- Enjoy, all!
Manasi says
February 9, 2013 atLean-mean- fat- burning- machine. ’nuff said!
Vaishali says
February 11, 2013 atAnd it’s all true, of course. 🙂
Lucille Avilu says
September 9, 2015 atThank You for this amazing recipe!! I loved it 🙂 Thanks for the site, being vegetarian and gluten fee and dairy free is hard sometimes but your site has made it a ton easier.
Kamini says
February 9, 2013 atOK this is exactly what I want now! And I have all the ingredients! YESSSSSS! Looks fabulous by the way.
Vaishali says
February 11, 2013 atKamini, thanks! I think of this as my-body-is-a-temple food: tastes great and does great things to the body too!
Pavani says
February 9, 2013 atWow. Such a healthy and delicious stew. A very unique combination of ingredients. I’m going to try this very soon.
Vaishali says
February 11, 2013 atThanks, Pavani. These different ingredients go together really well. Hope you try it. 🙂
foodfeud says
February 9, 2013 atThis looks so incredible, especially so with the snow and wind blowing outside. You have the three ingredients that make anything delicious: coconut milk, kale, and sweet potatoes!
Vaishali says
February 11, 2013 atFoodfeud, my thoughts exactly! I could eat those three ingredients in anything.
divya says
February 9, 2013 atYummy and irresistible..love it
Vaishali says
February 11, 2013 atDivya, thanks. 🙂
Anonymous says
February 10, 2013 atHey, this works as Valentine’s Day food for me! It sounds so warm and comforting. 🙂
Eileen
Vaishali says
February 11, 2013 atEileen, yes, I’d probably cook this for V-day too. 🙂 Sorry I deleted your original comment by error and had to post as Anonymous– my fingers are sometimes just too big for my smartphone and I accidentally hit the “delete” button instead of “publish”. 🙁
ammasdtr19 says
February 10, 2013 atI am gonna try this with pumpkin instead of the sweet potato.
Vaishali says
February 11, 2013 atThat’d be a very nice substitution.
Jennifer says
February 11, 2013 atLooks great! LOVE the colors!
Vaishali says
February 11, 2013 atThanks, Jennifer. 🙂
Indian Spices says
February 12, 2013 atSeemingly healthy vegetable stew which will help invoke taste buds.
Stephen Baird says
March 3, 2013 atWe’ve made this twice now 🙂
This time I doubled the onion as we both love onion and added mustard seed and kolonji to the dill seeds at the start of the process
Thanks for such an inspiring site, we are so looking forward to cooking more of the recipes
Vaishali says
March 7, 2013 atStephen, thanks for your kind words and the feedback. So happy you liked it!
Adam says
October 2, 2014 atWonderful stew. I couldn’t find sambar powder so I substituted two tbsp of curry powder. Any suggestions where to find sambar powder and best brands?
Vaishali Honawar says
October 2, 2014 atHi Adam, so glad you liked the stew– thanks for letting me know! I almost never buy Sambar Powder but there are a few like MDH and MTR on the market. You can find them on Amazon or most Indian grocery stores, although one thing to keep in mind is that some of these can be fiery hot. If you have a coffee grinder, it’s pretty easy to mix up your own sambar powder and you’ll also get the freshest flavor. You can find a recipe on my DIY masalas page here: https://holycowvegan.net/diy-spice-mixes
Chessie says
February 22, 2015 atI made this for lunch today — very tasty. I used a five-spice packet that I bought a while ago in place of the sambhar powder, since it seems to have about the same ingredients. It’s good even if it isn’t exactly right!
Donna Cermak says
November 17, 2015 atAs a recent vegan, I’ve been searching for interesting, tasty recipes, and have certainly found one here. It is absolutely delicious!
Creamy and sweet, chock full of healthy ingredients…kale, chick peas and in my case, butternut squash. Thus one’s a keeper!
Nicole says
October 30, 2017 atThe proportions for this recipe seem really off. Only 1 tsp of oil in which to cook an entire onion and 2 large sweet potatoes, plus ginger and garlic? And only 1/2 can of coconut milk? That’s not enough liquid. I ended up throwing everything together and cooking it in a whole can of coconut milk. It was still pretty good, but not ideal.
Also, there’s no description of how to cook this differently if you’re using canned chickpeas and fresh kale. That would be helpful.
Thank you. I will try one of your other recipes next time.