November is World Vegan Month, and it all kicks off with World Vegan Day on the 1st. Admittedly, we’re not a vegan household but, as we do have one of the world’s most picky eaters in the family (a vegetarian who doesn’t really like many vegetables…), I’m more than happy to cook vegan dishes once in a while, just to add some variety to the stream of pizza and pasta that seems to make up most of our meals.
Chickpeas are usually a safe bet for the basis of a meal. Given the amount of chickpeas that we eat, I had a go at growing some this year using dried chickpeas from the supermarket, as recommended by Alys Fowler. I started them off on some damp kitchen roll and planted those that sprouted (and most did) into small pots. They grew on well in the greenhouse and were planted out into a raised bed in mid June – probably a bit too late because by that time they had grown to more than fill their pots, but I wanted to be sure that they wouldn’t get a chill when they moved out into the great outdoors. They carried on growing and made nice bushy little plants, just over knee high, with divided foliage and, after a couple of months, a scattering of small white flowers.
After the flowers came bright green pods – by this stage I was getting quite excited. There were so many crop failures in the veg garden this year, I wasn’t expecting too much but it looked like there was going to be a chickpea harvest of sorts.
Well no, as it turned out the pods were completely empty – not a chickpea in any of them (and I checked every one just in case!). A bit of internet research reveals that blind pods can often be a problem in cool, damp weather because the insects just aren’t out there to pollinate the flowers. And let’s face it, one thing we had plenty of this summer was cool, damp weather. Still, there’s always next year and I’m not ready to give up just yet.
To fill the gap between now and next year’s bumper harvest, there are always those handy tins of chickpeas from the shops. I used one tin to make a tasty chickpea tagine, served with home made flatbreads. It’s an easy meal to throw together, most of the ingredients are straight out of the store cupboard, and it’s packed with flavours – rich tomato, sweet apricots and a lovely warming combination of spices. If I’d had some butternut squash to hand, and if everyone in the family would eat butternut squash, I’d have added that too for extra flavour.
Will you be cooking anything tasty for World Vegan Month this November? – and this isn’t just an idle question, I’m always on the look out for new ideas that might tempt a reluctant child to try something different!
Chickpea & Apricot Tagine
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
1 400g tin peeled plum tomatoes
1 400g tin chickpeas
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp clear honey
100g dried, ready to eat apricots (or dried apricots that have been soaked in hot water to soften)
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook gently until it is soft and translucent. Stir in the cinnamon, ginger and cumin, and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes, chickpeas and tomato puree. Stir, cover and cook on a low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring every now and again.
Add the honey and apricots and season to taste. Stir through to mix everything well and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Serve with warm flatbread, or some couscous to mop up the tasty juices.
This looks like such a warming recipe – and chickpeas are my favourite! I can’t seem to find my recipe for vegan chocolate cake but I’m sure it would go down well with your vegetable disliking vegetarian!!
I’m impressed with your chickpea plants – I had no idea that these could be grown here. It’s a shame that we had such a wet summer
Vegan chocolate cake sounds good (to be honest, pretty much any form of chocolate cake sounds good!) I would love to try the recipe you posted for beetroot and chocolate cake, but adding vegetables to a chocolate cake is a step too far for the vegetable averse vegetarian!
Oooo I haven’t thought of growing chickpeas. I wonder how prolific they’d be in a decent season, are they worth the space? I bet they’d taste great fresh. As for good vegan dishes for picky eaters – hard, very hard. The vegan dishes my kids like best are: baked beans, pakoras & noodle soup with mushrooms? i reckon they might attempt your chick pea tajine if they were in the right mood (ie we’d just read green eggs & ham).
I’m going to give the chickpeas another try next year – they’re supposed to be very good fresh, and not something you can buy in the shops. You might do better with them in Melbourne, the climate is probably more suitable!
Never would have thought of growing chickpeas…maybe a project for next year!
My son-in-law is like your husband, but he’s really trying to branch out and try new veggies. My daughter is getting tired of pasta, too!
It’s easy to get stuck in a cooking rut, especially with fussy eaters in the house!
Like PJ girl I had no idea you could grow chickpeas in this country – I noticed that James Wong has brought out a range of seeds for Suttons will definitely be checking this out as I love his Homegrown Revolution book and would like to give some of his unusual veg a go.
I hadn’t seen the new James Wong book – it’s now on order from the local library, thanks Elaine!
This sounds remarkably like a dish my mum used to make when I was a teenager, (and a vegetarian), only she called it a curry as tagines were probably unheard of then! We eat a lot of chick peas here too, but never thought of growing them. Might just give them a whirl, as I will your tagine!
It could well be called a curry too I think. I’m not sure if it really qualifies as a tagine – probably not very authentic, but it was based on a tagine recipe!
Oooo you grew chickpeas, I’ve always wanted to try them, so now I know a bit more about them, thank you! I also fancy trying lentils – just to see how hey grow.
Your recipe sounds delicious, nice and simple and tasty and healthy – loving the flavours, my kind of meal
Lentils sound interesting too – if we could just rely on the summer weather to be kind (or even predictable)!
I didn’t realize that November was World Vegan Month. My girls like chickpeas and I’m curious to know if they’d like this dish — I know that I would, especially served with those flatbreads. I’m bookmarking this recipe.
Hope that your girls do like it – I think the sweetness of the apricots helps to make it more child friendly!
I would never think to try and sprout and grow more chickpeas, shame your pods were empty but at least you had some pretty plants out of it!
I like your positive spin on the empty pods Anne! I think I’m going to have to try growing them again next year, just to see if it was down to the weather or if chickpeas really don’t grow here.
Chickpeas, I really should practice cooking them more. I can never get them the way like when I make them from dried. But I simply don’t do it enough.
Michael
You have reminded me Michael that I have a packet of dried chickpeas in the cupboard. I always mean to use dried instead of tinned, but then forget to soak them – maybe next time!
I really like the sound of this – chickpeas are very useful and healthy too, so I try and use them often. Picky eaters are a problem though (I only have one!) so the apricots would sadly have to be left out! I had never thought of growing chickpeas – good idea! (Sorry this comment is so late – for some reason WordPress decided not to send me notification and “unfollowed” me some time in October! I’m catching up!)
I think prunes or dates would work in place of the apricots – if they are acceptable, or just leave them out altogether. I was wondering why my follower count was dropping last month – didn’t realise it was wordpress, I thought I’d done something to offend them!
And I assumed you were on holiday! LOL!