We may have made it through the snowpocalypse, but though most of the snow has stopped, winter and its cold temperatures still linger on. This column centers on food you can make with a microwave and a small budget, so this week will focus on healthy meals that will warm you up and make your belly happy.
Before I present this week's recipe, I want to talk about being adventurous in your cooking.
A lot of cooks I know often feel restricted by their recipes. They feel that a recipe is like a set of rules for cooking and if they deviate, the food will not come out right.
People may avoid certain recipes or even cooking altogether because they are scared off by long ingredient lists.
Here's my plug for the week: be adventurous!
Cooking is part art. Let recipes be guidelines for your cooking, not hard and fast rules. You add a little of this, a little of that, and you create something all your own.
If you don't have an ingredient, find something to replace it or don't use the ingredient at all.
Occasionally, it is a good idea to follow a recipe pretty closely, like when making bread, but with basic meals, experimenting can not only save you money in unnecessary ingredients, but also make cooking a lot more fun and more suited to your tastes.
You can certainly learn a lot by following a recipe to the letter and imitating the masters, but great chefs are made not simply by sheer knowledge, but also by innovation.
You may be wondering how you can innovate with limited knowledge, not to mention limited equipment. This is where the adventure of cooking begins.
Get to know the tastes, spices and textures you like, then try incorporating them into a few dishes that you already know how to cook.
You can start with basic tastes. If you like sweet things, try adding a little sugar to your stir-fry. If you like spicy, you might want to invest in some cayenne pepper, a versatile spice that can be used (sparingly) to give any dish that hot, lip-smacking flavor.
From basic tastes, you can expand your repertoire and try new spices, flavors, and ingredients.
This week's recipe is for my curried chickpea and tomato soup.
When I make a soup or one-pot meal, I try to incorporate different food groups and textures. I like to have a protein (like beans, meat, tofu or legumes), a grain (such as rice or pasta), a green vegetable (spinach, green beans, chard, or cabbage), and a non-green vegetable (like tomatoes or squash).
Obviously you can put in more than what I have listed, either by adding ingredients not in a category like cheese or by adding multiple ingredients from one category, like chicken and beans.
These are my building blocks for a filling, hearty soup. I say this because I want to encourage you to take risks and use the ingredients you already have rather that following my recipe to the letter.
That said, I was quite happy with my microwave soup and hope you will enjoy it too!
Curried Chickpea and Tomato Soup
Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 can diced tomatoes
½ can chicken or vegetable broth
Large handful of fresh spinach
About 1/4 cup or a handful of couscous
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp curry powder
pinch of cayenne
1 tsp lemon juice (if available)
Equipment:
Can opener or pocket knife with can opener
large Tupperware for cooking or two bowls
microwave or stove-top
spoon.
Open chickpea can halfway to drain. Add chickpeas, diced tomatoes (not drained), broth and spices if available (but not lemon juice).
Stir ingredients together and microwave for six minutes slightly uncovered. Stir and microwave for two more minutes.
Add the spinach, lemon juice, and couscous, then stir again, and microwave for two more minutes.
Take out of microwave, stir, and leave slightly uncovered for four to five minutes. Serve and gobble up!
A note to the Tupperware-less: If you don't have a container large enough to hold the ingredients, you can split them among two bowls and heat them separately, using a plate to cover them.
