Comfort Food, College Style.

Posted by Aisling O'Dwyer on May 18, 2010 · 2 Comments 

In the days of yore, when I was a ‘real’ student that didn’t live at home, this was the specialty dish of one of my roommates. Traditionally, it is made with turkey steaks, because Tesco generally had them on special offer, though chicken makes a fine turkey substitute. I’d imagine chucking in a few extra beans would make this into a really tasty vegetarian this, though as this was a Boy!Dish (Made by boys, for boys and whatever girls were foolish enough to live with them) vegetarian experimentation was frowned upon (‘That’s a snack, not a meal’).

The other thing about living with boys is that there were never any leftovers. Had there been, it would not have come as such a revelation to me that, delicious and all as this non-traditional curry is fresh off the (prohibited-under-college-regulations) hob, it is even better reheated on Day 2. The chickpeas have absorbed stuff and the flavours have matured, or developed and done whatever else it is that flavours do, and the results are good.

‘Frisby’s Fragrant Curry’

Serves 4 (though we used to stretch it to serve 6 with lashings of basmati rice). We didn’t have a food processor, so we used a hand-held blender instead. It worked, but it’s definitely easier with a food processor.

4 turkey steaks, roughly diced.
3 onions, quartered
4 fat garlic cloves
2 inch piece root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
3 tbsp medium curry powder
1 tsp tumeric
2 tsp paprika
2 fresh red chillies, roughly chopped
2 handfuls fresh coriander
1 chicken stock cube
750 ml hot water
2 x 400g tins of chickpeas (or 200g dried beans, soaked and cooked – I used half black-eyed peas and half chickpeas)

1. Combine the onions, garlic, ginger, curry powder, ground spices, chillies and one handful of the coriander (stalks and all) in a foodprocessor. Add a pinch of salt and blend to a puree.

2. Tip the mix into a large saucepan and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking.

3. Crumble in the stock cube, add the water and bring to the boil. Add the turkey and stir before lowering the heat and simmering for 20 minutes.

4. Add the chickpeas and heat through. Serve with the chopped coriander and basmati rice.

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Filed under Recipes · Tagged with chickpea, curry, turkey