Curried Potatoes and Chickpeas

Recipe for The Daring Kitchen
Mary, who writes the delicious blog, Mary Mary Culinary was our August Daring Cooks’ host. Mary chose to show us how delicious South Indian cuisine is! She challenged us to make Appam and another South Indian/Sri Lankan dish to go with the warm flat bread.
In the midst of planning a well-rounded menu for my second Daring Kitchen Feast, I had a formidable opponent in finding a party-pleasing veggie. My husband, though an adventurous eater, seems to have an outstanding war with turmeric. It just turns his stomach, negating all the loving care placed in perfecting the taste of the dish. I’d been reading through Amanda Hesser’s massive New York Times Essential Cookbook and was on the beans and legumes when I came across a recipe for Chickpeas with Ginger. The sauce had notes of Indian spices that rang true with the other offerings for the Daring Kitchen, and no troublesome turmeric.

I deviated a bit from Hesser’s recipe, including slivers of potato at the party and adding butter and stock to round out the sauce. She includes mango powder as well, a spice I’d never worked with before, and it’s gloriously tart and floral. If you can seek some out from your Indian grocer or world market, it’s well worth your time.  The resulting sauce created from the simmered chickpeas is sumptuous, great for sopping up with some appam or naan.

Curried Potatoes and Chickpeas

1 russet potato, peeled and sliced into thin half moons
1 can of vegetable stock
2 cans of chick peas, drained
2 medium onions, chopped
4 plum tomatoes, deseeded and sliced into slivers
6 cloves of garlic, minced
3 in. of ginger, peeled and minced
2 tbs. of oil
4 tbs. of butter
1 tbs. of ground coriander
1 tsp. of ground cardamom
1 tsp. of mango powder (or 1 tbs. of fresh lemon juice)
1/2 tsp. of cayenne pepper
1 tsp. of ground black pepper
salt to taste

Add the potatoes and stock to a large pot and bring to a boil.  Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 5 minutes.  Turn on low and let bubble away while you prepare your aromatics.

Melt the butter and oil in a large skillet.  Add the onion and cook until translucent.  Add the ginger, garlic, tomatoes, coriander, cardamom, mango powder, cayenne and black pepper.  Cook until tomato gets a little saucy (ha!), about 5 minutes.  Add the onion mixture to the potatoes and stir in the chick peas.  Simmer until all flavors are well combined, about 15 minutes.  Serve with chopped cilantro for garnish.