Sweet potato and chickpea curry

Comfort food of the first order – warming, satisfying and dead-simple.







What’s the difference between kumara and sweet potato? Nothing! Kumara is the Maori word for sweet potato. Polynesian explorers are thought to have enjoyed it on their travels to Central and South America and taken it with them as vine cuttings back to the Cook Islands in about 700AD.



Sweet potato tubers store well - in a dark cool place, not in plastic and not in the fridge - and can be used baked, fried, boiled and barbecued in savoury and sweet dishes. This recipe is easy to adapt to whatever you have in the cupboard or crisper. Add a bunch of chopped spinach or silverbeet. Enrich the sauce with coconut milk, or freshen it up with a squeeze of lime or lemon. Heat it up with extra chilli, or serve with a spicy lime pickle or tangy mango chutney.

What you need

• 1 onion, chopped

• Olive oil

• 2 cloves garlic, finelychopped

• 3cm piece ginger, grated

• 2 teaspoons ground cumin

• 1 teaspoon ground coriander

• ½ teaspoon turmeric

• 1 dried red chilli, thinly sliced

• 1 tin chickpeas, drained

• 1 tin tomatoes

• 3 sweet potatoes, peeled

• 1 bunch coriander

What to do

1. Heat a heavy-based pan over medium heat, add a slug of olive oil and cook the onion until transparent.

2. Add the garlic and ginger and stir a few minutes until fragrant, then add the spices, and cook a further minute.

3. Add the tin of tomatoes, then fill the can with water and add that too.

4. While the curry is coming to the boil, chop the sweet potato into bite-size pieces. Add to the curry, add more water to ensure the potato is covered, bring back to the boil then turn the heat down to a simmer.

5. When the potato is soft all the way through, which will take about 25 minutes, add the drained chickpeas and let them warm through for about five minutes.

6. Check the seasoning, then serve the curry with fresh coriander leaves on top, alongside warm naan bread or steamed rice, and a bowl of plain yoghurt.