EASY Squash & Chickpea curry

I have started a block of healthy cooking workshops with a lovely group of ladies from Clydebank and we are using herbs and veggies from the community gardens, which is just great! You don't get any fresher than just picked from the garden, no pesticide residues to contend with and loads of nutrition to boot!

So this week we had rainbow chard, cavolo nero, beetroot, spring onions, tomatoes and loads of flat leaf parsley!
It was soup, snacks and smoothies week so we ended up with a few bunches of rainbow chard leftover which I gladly brought home since no one else knew what to do with it! That's part of the point of the workshops, to introduce new ways of cooking and introduce new ingredients!

We are doing meat free mains next week and I'll be demonstrating how easy it is to add greens to your diet. Finely shredded and steamed or lightly stir fried is a great way to use greens, they retain most of their incredible nutrients cooked this way and the addition of some good quality oil helps with the absorption of the fat soluble vitamins! I always add a delicious garlicky, turmeric, balsamic vinegar dressing too to add heaps more health benefits and incredible flavour!

​There are no boring boiled plain veggies at Nourished by Nature!

We did add a lot of greens to our various soups but rainbow chard has quite an earthy taste, its from the beetroot family and so it can be a bit of an acquired taste!
I didn't think the green smoothies would go down so well packed with chard so we made do with spinach, avocado and frozen peas! We did however add kiwi, orange,pineapple and banana and some coconut soya yoghurt and everyone loved them! There is always a way to sneak more veggies into your diet!

So I made this rather easy, nutritious and delicious curry recipe to use up the lovely rainbow chard
I can't abide waste and its shocking the amount of perfectly good food that is thrown away, I can feel a rant coming on!!
I'll save it for another post and get on with the recipe.

I've demonstrated this recipe at various healthy eating workshops and it's always a favourite.
Part of the appeal of this recipe is that it uses few ingredients, just Thai Green or Red (if you like spicy!) Curry paste, some peanut butter and coconut milk. A lot of curries need lots of different spices which most of us don't have, unless we are curry fanatics, which I am not.
Red onions, garlic and ginger make up the other flavour components, adding a fair amount of anti inflammatory action to this dish!
So you can literally have this cooked in 30 to 40 minutes.  You can cheat by using the jars of ready chopped ginger and garlic but I always prefer the fresh option!
Spinach is a good alternative to the rainbow chard and you can add a whole bag since it wilts down so much and is packed with all sorts of nutritional goodies!
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On that note, I'm off to prepare a vegan lunch for tomorrow for the volunteers at the most successful Lets Eat Glasgow event last weekend, which I was a part of!

It's great to see so much quality Scottish food being promoted and even better to be a part of it all!

It's Scottish Food and Drink Fortnight so please support local producers!!

Here is the recipe, it's perfect for the weekend....

Chickpea, Squash & Rainbow Chard Curry

Ingredients - Serves 4

• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 red onions, finely sliced
• 1 tablespoon coconut or rapeseed oil
• 1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons Thai green curry paste
• small butternut squash, cubed (about 500g)
• 1 can (14oz/400g size) chickpeas, drained
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• Can of coconut milk
•  1/2 cup veg stock
• 1/2 cup frozen peas and/or sweetcorn (optional)
• 2 bunches of rainbow chard, shredded or a big bag of spinach
• toasted flaked almonds or toasted coconut flakes to garnish

Method

1. Add the garlic, onion and ginger to a large pan with a little oil, and  cook for 5 minutes
2. Add the curry paste, and cook for another few minutes until the whole mixture becomes highly fragrant.
3. Add the squash, chickpeas, and peanut butter, and mix well.
4. Add the coconut milk and the stock. Simmer gently, with a lid on, for about 30 minutes, until the squash is cooked. Add more stock if it seems dry and stir it to prevent sticking.
5. Add the frozen peas and/or sweetcorn, if using and simmer for 5 minutes more.
6. Add the shredded rainbow chard and mix well until it wilts.
7. Garnish with toasted almonds or coconut flakes.
8. Serve with brown rice.