honey & ollie

Slow Cooker chickpea and vegetable stew courtesy of Apartment Therapy. I’ve been trying to cook at home and economize a lot more on meals, given the general state of the economy and the general state of my bank account. I like slow cooker meals because they tend not to involve a ton of work. Always a plus, in my book! I’d definitely give this one two thumbs up. The entire family liked it.

Just the fresh garlic, ginger and jalepeno all minced together were enough to make me weep with olfactory joy.

Then I added brown sugar, curry powder and kosher salt.

Added it to some potatoes and onions that were merrily cooking away until everything was aromatic and yummy looking.

Threw that into the crockpot for about 4 hours.

Added coconut milk and spinach*, and OM NOM NOM, stew! We served it over Israeli couscous, which was fantastic and added a nice textural complement to the stew itself.

The modifications I made to this recipe:
I cut all amounts in half as my crockpot is small.
omitted bell pepper
added 2 small carrots, chopped
added 1 parsnip, chopped

In future I think it would be good to add things like baby corn and this would be fantastic with little chunks of lamb if you wanted to make it meaty – as it is written, it is totally vegan, and fabulous. I could be happy with it either way.

Disasters that happened when I made this recipe:
I splashed boiling stew liquid across my face (mushing a potato against side of pot, it slipped and the liquid splashed up) giving myself a 2nd degree burn on my chin. Ow.
#2 Teenager dropped her stew all over the new couch, staining the new slipcovers. Which are white and blue.

Because, you know, of course we can’t have dinner in this house without second degree burns and stew all over my new couch.

*unfortunately, the final picture does not include coconut milk and spinach, as I was a dork and forgot to add them until I was on my second bowl. *urp* It’s good without the coconut milk and spinach, but way better with.