Vegetarian Spiced Chickpea Stew

The flavours in this stew are so rich, creamy, a little spicy, and full on coconut. This is pure comfort food and our favourite stew right now! This is a NYT Cooking recipe from Alison Roman that went viral on the internet last year – it’s that good.

The stew is quick to make for a weeknight dinner while delivering on lots of flavour.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
• 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed 
• 1 teaspoon chili flakes (optional)
• 2 cans full fat organic coconut milk
• 2 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
• 5 cups chopped Swiss chard (you can use kale or other hearty greens)
• 1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
• 1 cup of Greek style yogurt
• 1/2 cup mint leaves, chopped
• 1/2 lime
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions

1. In a large pot or Dutch oven add olive oil and sauté onions, ginger and garlic until the onions are translucent.
2. Add salt, pepper, turmeric and chili flakes and mix well.
3. Add chickpeas that have been drained and rinsed. While rinsing the chickpeas I remove most of the outer skin, but that is very optional. Note:  You can use dried chickpeas, as well, but they must be pre-soaked and fully cooked before adding them to the stew.  
4. Cook chickpeas and aromatics for 10 minutes.
5. Add coconut milk and vegetable or chicken broth. Stir well and season with salt and pepper.
6. Cook for 30 minutes.
7. Prepare greens – remove the stem from the swiss chard and cut into bite size pieces.  Add greens just before serving. Cook for about 5 minutes.
8. Serve in bowls. 
9. Garnish with 1 tablespoon Greek style yogurt, topped with mint leaves, chili flakes, a nice drizzle of olive oil and a squirt of lime juice.

Enjoy!