Brace your self for a couple of chickpea recipes over the next week. My mum brought a bag of dried chickpeas and decided to cook the all up on a bit of a whim, and with no space in the freezer they need to be used… It’s a good thing the humble chickpea is my favourite of all beans. Its versatile and hearty, great in soups as they really go wonderfully tender and absorb all the flavours of the brothy goodness. They even go good in sweat things, but more on that in another post…

Ingredients:
1 tbsp peanut oil/ coconut oil
1 large onion, sliced into thin half moons
1 red chilli, minced
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp mild yellow curry powder
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp tamari
2 star anise
1 can quality coconut milk
3 cups quality vegetable stock
1 small green cabbage, shredded
1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed, or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
juice from 1 lime

Method:
Saute the onion in the oil until translucent. Add the chilli, garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute, chuck in the cinnamon and curry powder, cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste, tamari, star anise and stock, followed by the cabbage. Bring to the boil and cook for about 5 minutes, reduce to a simmer and stir in the coconut milk, chickpeas and lime juice. Cook for about 20-25 minutes, until the cabbage is tender. Serve in big bowls and enjoy.