I am made a meal the other day for a family that is sitting shiva (in mourning). I was at the end of a week of meals organized by our school PTO and I know they had been getting a lot of Baked Ziti and chicken. To change things up I decided to make chickpeas. As I am not sure how the kids do with spices I decided to make a mild dish with coconut milk. MY kids love the mouth feel of coconut milk and it makes the dish taste so rich! Here is what I did.

Chickpea Curry with Coconut Milk

will feed 10-12, can cut in half, or make it all and put half in the freezer

16oz dried chickpeas (if you want to skip the soak used canned, you’ll need about 3 15oz cans)

3 tbs ghee or olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, pressed

1.5 inch piece ginger, grated

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (pureed in processor)

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp turmeric

2 tsp coriander

1.5 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp garam masala (optional)

dash of cayenne

salt and pepper

about 1 cup coconut milk

Soak the chickpeas (either overnight in room temp water or quick soak in boiling water for about 4 hours). Rinse chickpeas and cover with about 6 cups water and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 90 minutes. In the last 30 minutes add 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt to the pot. When cooked drain.

In a large sauce pan, heat the ghee (or olive oil). Add the onion and garlic and saute until fragrant. Add the ginger and cumin seeds. Stir a few times then add the tomatoes and the turmeric, coriander, cumin, garam masala and cayenne. Stir and reduce heat. Add the cooked chickpeas and about 1 tsp salt and some pepper. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes. Add the coconut milk (use more or less to taste, you can also use a reduced fat variety) and let simmer another 15 minutes. Check for seasonings. Serve over rice or with naan.

After making my delicious pumpkin pie with coconut milk, I had leftover coconut milk. I am not one to waste something (especially a yummy something!) so I made up a smoothie for me and the kids while we watched the pies bake. I took the coconut milk, which was about 2/3 of a cup, a can of cubed pineapple and a cup of vanilla yogurt along with a few ice cubes and whirled it all up in the blender. It was a great smoothie that reminded me of the crazy drinks my husband and I had in the British Virgin Islands on our honeymoon. So give coconut milk a try the next time you blend up a smoothie as an after school snack!

As promised here is what I making today, I will post a picture when it is baked.

Pumpkin Pie (with coconut milk)

from Fine Cooking 101, pg 62

1 15oz can pumpkin puree

1 1/4 cups unsweetened coconut milk (full fat variety)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp nutmeg

4 eggs (at room temp)

2 Tbs spiced rum (like Captain Morgan’s)

1 blind baked pie crust (I’ll post my recipe for this too!)

Preheat oven to 425F. In a large bowl whisk pumpkin, coconut milk, sugar and spices until smooth. Whisk in eggs and then rum, mix until smooth. Pour into the already baked crust. Put on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F and bake until the center of the pie no longer wobbles (a little jiggle is fine) about 45-55 more minutes.

Cool completely before serving. Will keep for 2 days at room temperature.