Seriously, the woods around me smell gorgeously garlicky and make me want to shout out hellooooooooooooooooooooo spring. It doesn’t have that effect on my cousin, however, who hates the very sight of it, because it was all he lived on for three days when he was doing survival training in the army.
I am particularly proud that the tiny bunches of wild garlic I transplanted about 5 years ago are now spread in vast patches that are just going to keep feeding me. Not that I am a show off or anything 😀 but somehow seem to end up at ‘my wild garlic patch’ whenever I take my obviously very interested friends for a little ramble. OK, I AM showing off a little bit.
Keep an eye out for wild garlic as you wander around in your local fields, woods or parks. How do you spot it? Easy, it has large white flowers, 6 inch long spear-shaped leaves, and if in doubt, pick a bit, pinch it between your fingers and smell. If it smells of garlic it is garlic.
The Royal Horticultural Society has a good website that will help you identify it. Alternatively, you can get massive packs of wild garlic relatively cheaply from your local farmer’s markets. You can easily substitute spinach or other green in this curry although you would then have to add in a couple of cloves of garlic when cooking.
I make this curry a lot at this time of the year as because I feel that the flavour of these first spring greens are perfectly matched to store cupboard staples of chickpeas and coconut milk. It is cheap, healthy and filling and ready in less than 30 mins. Personally I make this curry a day before I want to serve it as the flavours just work better the next day. And Dont forget to try my Wild Garlic Pesto Too.
So try this easy one pot wild garlic and chickpea curry recipe and don’t forget to leave me a comment below to tell me what you think.
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 cardamom pods crushed
- 4 cloves
- 1 shard cinnamon
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 tsp minced ginger
- 1 mild red chilli deseeded and chopped
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 400 ml (1 3/4 cups) coconut milk
- 2 x 400g tins (14oz) chickpeas rinsed and drained
- 125 g wild garlic washed and chopped
- 4 tomatoes quartered
- Salt
- 2-4 tsp lemon juice to taste
- Chopped coriander (cilantro) to serve
- Heat oil in a pot, add in the cardamom, cloves and cinnamon and stir fry for about 30 secs until fragrant.
- Add in the onions, ginger, chilli and 5 tbsp of water and cook until the onions are soft and the water dried off.
- Then add in the curry powder and stir fry for about 30 secs.
- Pour in the coconut milk and the chickpeas, mix well, bring to the boil and let the curry simmer for a few minutes.
- Then add in the chopped wild garlic leaves and the tomatoes, mix gently and let the curry simmer for another few mins before adding in the lemon juice and salt to taste.
- Take the curry of the heat and serve topped with fresh coriander and rice.
- I recommend cooking it a day before you want to serve it as the flavours develop even more the next day.
You can substitute the wild garlic with other greens such as spinach or swiss chard. Just add some garlic when adding in the onions and ginger. OH likes adding some fish sauce to his portion.
This dish looks as comforting as a big hug. Love chickpeas and have most of the staples in my cupboard. Will definitely try this one this week. :-
Enjoy every mouthful.
Thank you for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbour were preparing to do some research about that. We got a first-class book on that matter from our local library and most books where not as influensive as your inmfnoatior. I am very glad to see such information which I was searching for a long time.This made very glad
kathy BartlettJune 18, 2009loved the book, red dust, can not wait for your next one. we live in the riverland in south australia where a lot of people are stuggling because of the drought all we can do is pray it rains. regards kathy
This looks delicious. Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friends Friday.
My pleasure Michelle.
This looks fantastic, being a vegetarian I’m always on the look out for new and interesting recipes. I have wild garlic growing in my garden as I just adore the smell of it, I love the fact that I now have a new recipe to try it in. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Yaye,I am excited to find more people with wild garlic in their backyard.
This looks amazing! I will have to try it out. In my old home, I had wild ginger all over the backyard. I loved excavating it… I had no idea that there is wild garlic growing about. News to me, I’ll begin looking out for it!!
I love almost anything with chickpeas in it so I’ll have to try this. Just dropping in doing a little Bloglovin’ reading:) Hope you have a great day!
Nicky
http://www.feelingtheemptynest.com
Glad I can inspire you with a chickpea recipe. 😀
Hey there! Thank you so much for coming by Home | Styled and linking up at the party! I’m always looking for healthy recipes and this looks delicious! Hope you have a blessed weekend and come back next week!
looks like I have a new recipe to try!! thanks!!
Hey Angie, how did it go?
Yummy!
=D
I love how quick this recipe is!