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Curry Roasted Chickpeas

Written on November 17, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Snack

This is undoubtedly one of my favorite recipes of recent. After all it has maple syrup and cinnamon—what’s not to love? And I loved the way the chickpeas tasted after they had been roasted, which made me want to try more variations.

Rather than go the sweet route(since I could eat sweets all day), I wanted a savory recipe that would be just as delicious but slightly less addicting. I love the combination of maple syrup and curry in this squash recipe so it seemed like a great way to start. The maple syrup doesn’t actually make these all that sweet; rather, it intensifies the spiciness of the curry and balances its saltiness for an intense flavor combination.

Different curry spice blends have different ingredients. If you’re opposed to spiciness, look for a mild-flavored blend. Additionally, if yours is salt-free, add 1/2 teaspoon salt to the recipe.

Curry Roasted Chickpeas

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
2 teaspoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon Indian curry spice blend

Method:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Toss all of the ingredients together in a large bowl.
Lay out the chickpeas in a single layer on a baking tray and roast for 50 minutes or until nutty and crispy, shaking the pan halfway through.
Serve hot or at room temperature. Keep leftovers in the refrigerator.

You can eat these on a salad or as a side dish or just on their own as a savory snack. Roasting the chickpeas makes them crispy, crunchy, and addicting.

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Maple-Curry Acorn Squash

Written on October 13, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

One of my favorite things is when readers make recipes from really old posts on this site. A lot of the time they’re recipes I’ve forgotten about. More importantly, I’ve forgotten how good some of the recipes are, too.

When Danielle made my maple-curry squash recipe I immediately added it to the list of foods to make. The unexpected combination of maple and curry powder work surprisingly well together for a squash that’s spicy and earthy.

Another reason I like remaking old recipes is it gives me a chance to take better pictures. Over the past year, I’ve learned a lot about what goes into a good food photo. While I still have a lot to learn in terms of lighting and styling, I can look at these and not cringe like I do some of the photos I published when I first started writing this blog.

Maple-Curry Acorn Squash

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 3 servings):

1 Large acorn squash
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 Tablespoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt*

*omit if your curry powder is already salted.

Method:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line a baking tray
Cut the squash in half to remove all the seeds. Once de-seeded, cut along the ridges into thin wedges.
In a large bowl, toss the wedges with the maple syrup, curry powder, and salt.
Lay the squash out on the baking tray and roast for 45 minutes or until fork tender.
Remove from the oven and serve hot.

Maple syrup and curry powder—who would’ve thunk it?

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A Taste Of London

Written on June 16, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Restaurant Review

For the last 5 days I’ve been on vacation in London. I’ve wanted to go to London for years now and it was everything I hoped it would be; the sights were incredible. The food, however, was very hit or miss. To be fair, I wasn’t going to London for the food, and most of the meals my group ate were in between famous landmarks. Food just wasn’t our priority.

Some of the meals were impressively bad; those ones I didn’t bother taking a picture of. English food doesn’t have the best reputation and when you’re limited to gluten-free, vegetarian(ish) options it’s even harder to find something edible and delicious. Salt was missing from practically every meal; and if I never see a plate of french fries again in my life I’ll be OK with that. So instead I’ll just point out the highlight meals.

My favorite restaurant experience was at Manna on Primrose Hill. This was actually the only restaurant that I knew I wanted to eat at before going to it. It’s a small vegan restaurant with lots of gluten-free options. I immediately went for the enchiladas, made with corn tortillas, beans, sweet potatoes, pumpkin seed puree and baked in a tomato sauce. It wasn’t outstanding, but I liked it and would definitely order it again.

I just had to order their onion rings as a side, because how often do you see vegan, gluten-free onion rings? I’m guessing the batter is rice flour and soy milk. It was impressively crispy and not oily at all. The only problem I had was that it lacked season; a little more salt would have gone a long way.

Another night we had Indian food near Swiss Cottage. Indian food is all over London; it’s practically the cuisine London is known for. Since so much of English food is only lightly seasoned, it’s easy to understand why the spicy punch of Indian food is so popular.

I ordered the house’s chana masala and a dish called veggie veggie 5 with 5 different vegetables sautéed in spices. The masala was good but again not outstanding. The vegetable dish had a great heat to it and was refreshing. I could have eaten Indian every day in London since this is the sort of food I’m naturally drawn to.

I have to give honorable mention to the food court at London Tower, which surprisingly had a great menu. Their sesame carrot salad had just the right amount of dressing and was one of the few times a restaurant made a meal out of vegetables. The bean salad was also very delicious. The restaurant even had a gluten-free brownie which looked dense and gooey but I was so excited to have a plate full of vegetables that dessert wasn’t even on my mind at that meal—weird, I know.

I would recommend London for the culture, the friendly people, the historical sites and terrific museums. I would not recommend it for a foodie vacation. Tomorrow I’ll post about London’s redeeming quality: Their desserts.

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