Kale, chickpea and tamarind stew

Here's another delicious recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi, whose column (The New Vegetarian) ran in the Guardian for a few years. It remains one of my favorite spaces to read about food, and I'm pleased that so many of his non-vegan dishes work very well with a few veganizing tweaks.

I fixed up a batch of this swiss chard, chickpea and tamarind stew yesterday, using kale in place of chard because my CSA delivery this week included a big bunch of tasty-looking kale. I confess that I'm not quite as "sold" on kale as some folks ... I find it quite tough compared to spinach (or even chard), and even though it is sometimes billed as the remedy for all that ails mankind, I don't cook with it all that often. I have been trying to be a bit more open-minded, though, and one thing I've learned is that I prefer it cooked to raw. That's just me, obviously. To each his/her own.

I love this stew because it's simple, and apart from sorting out a particularly integral but unique ingredient (tamarind paste), it practically makes itself. It's filling, healthy, wonderfully flavorful, and quick.

I made a couple of substitutions, which I've called out in parentheses here:

Yotam Ottolenghi's swiss chard, chickpea and tamarind stew
Recipe found here

4 tbsp seedless tamarind (I used about 3 tbsp of tamarind chutney, purchased at Whole Foods)
400g swiss chard (stems and leaves), cut into 1cm slices (I used kale from my CSA)
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 tsp whole caraway seeds
1½ tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
1 tsp tomato paste
400g tinned plum tomatoes, chopped up, juice and all
350ml water
1½ tbsp caster sugar (I skipped the sugar)
400g cooked chickpeas (I used a can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed)
1½ tsp whole coriander seeds, toasted and ground to a powder (I used pre-ground from a jar)
Salt and black pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
200g Greek yogurt (optional)
1 big handful coriander leaves (I skipped, but might've used cilantro if I'd had some around)

For rice
350g short-grain rice (I used brown long-grain and cooked according to package directions)
20g butter (I used Earth Balance)
700ml water

Whisk the tamarind with a little bit of warm water until it dissolves into a paste. Set aside. Bring a medium pot of salted water to the boil, blanch the chard for two minutes and drain.

Put the onion, caraway and olive oil in a large, heavy-based pan and sauté over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the onion is soft and golden. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for about a minute. Add the tomatoes, water, sugar, chickpeas, ground coriander and chard, and season. Strain the tamarind water through a small sieve straight into the pot. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, by which time it should be the consistency of thick soup. Adjust by adding water or by cooking uncovered to allow the liquid to evaporate. Taste, and adjust seasoning.

While the stew is cooking, put the rice, butter and a pinch of salt in a medium pan. Over medium heat, stir to coat the rice with melted butter, add the water and bring to a boil. Cover with a tight lid and simmer on a low flame for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside, still covered, for five more minutes.

To serve, spoon the rice into shallow soup bowls, then make a crater in the centre of each mound. Add the lemon juice to the stew, stir and pour a ladle or two into the rice crater. Spoon yogurt on top, if you like, drizzle with oil and finish with lots of coriander.


A photo of the vegetable prep. I just love the way red onions look when chopped! I quickly realized that just ripping the big, stalky kale leaves was much quicker, by the way.

This is my answer to tamarind paste, found during a fruitless search for tamarind paste at Whole Foods. This brand contains a tamarind, cumin, cardamom, coriander, fenugreek, lemon, and many more things. Basically, it's delicious, less work than fussing with tamarind paste and really makes the stew. Might not be the easiest thing to find, admittedly ...

 

I had a slight coriander fail during the production of this meal ... I learned several things in the process: 1. I had forgotten to pre-blanch the greens, 2. I should've used a bigger pot, 3. I should concentrate more when adding things to an over-full pot. Oh well.

  

Thankfully, despite not blanching the kale at the beginning, it all cooked down pretty quickly. I added a few minutes of cooking time to the stew overall to make sure the greens were tender enough. 

 

My CSA this week also included lemons! So I was happy to have fresh, tasty ones on hand for the "add the lemon juice to the stew" part. 

 

Finished stew over rice. Yum.