When it happens to me, it is all I can think about. I dream about it at night and daydream about it during the day. There is always a trigger and once I have been triggered there is no stopping the obsession until I have eaten it. Usually, more than once. Then I count the hours until I can eat it again.
Yeah, it's like that.
This all started last week when the Carmarthen Vegans went out for supper club at the Wetherspoons. It was curry night and I got what I always get--sweet potato and chickpea, spinach curry with pilau rice and poppadoms. My friend Emma got Bombay Potatoes and my friend Aly was talking about cooking them at home and suddenly I was like:
I must have Bombay Potatoes! Right now! This instant!
So, I didn't have them that very instant, but the obsessive thoughts began and on the walk home we had this conversation:
Me: I was thinking...
Spiderman: About food?
Me: How did you know?
Spiderman: Sigh...
Me: Anyway, I was thinking I could rearrange the menu and we could eat----
Spiderman: Bombay potatoes?
Me: How did you know???
Spiderman: You've got that mad glint in your eye again. This is going to be Root Beer Floats all over again, isn't it?
Me: Yup.
Do you remember the ROOT BEER FLOAT craving I had back in 2016?
So Aly and I brainstormed what could go with Bombay Potatoes (I mean...you could just eat a whole bowl of their spicy deliciousness, but i was trying to make a meal here.) I settled on curried roasted chickpeas and my other recent obsession Roasted Broccoli.
We used to eat roasted tenderstem broccoli many years ago. It was delicious, but it came in a lots of plastic packaging. We abandoned roasted broccoli (love and obsession are fickle) for our new favourite--sauteed kale. But recently were gifted with a naked (no plastic wrap) head of regular broccoli (not tenderstem) and discovered that the regular broccoli roasted up just as well as the over-packaged tenderstem. Hoorah!
Move over sauteed kale. Roasted broccoli is our new favourite green vegetable again.
This meal was so good, we are planning to have it again next week. And possibly the week after, depending on how long my obsession/craving lasts.
Bombay Potatoes with Curried Chickpeas and Roasted Broccoli
Preheat your oven to 200C/400F
Prepare your roasties:
1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tsp oil
drizzle of lemon juice (bottled is fine)
drizzle of liquid sweetener (I used Golden Syrup)
2 tsp curry powder
NOTE: I was so excited to try this that i forgot to see if I actually had curry powder. I didn't. But I will next time. I used 1 tsp garam masala, and half a teaspoon each turmeric and smoked paprika in place of curry powder.
Just mix all together and put on one side of your roasting pan (the other side is for broccoli)
Prepare your broccoli:
Half a head of broccoli (save the rest for another meal)
Slice the florets in half or quarters and spritz or drizzle with oil and add salt and pepper to taste.
Lay out your pan like this:
Prepare your potatoes:
400 g potatoes, diced
1 TB oil
1 finely chopped onion
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 tsp curry powder
(or do what I did--1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp ground cumin, half a teaspoon each red chilli flakes and salt)
Make a paste with:
2 TB tomato puree (paste)
1 TB finely chopped ginger root
4 cloves crushed garlic
Optional: Top with fresh coriander (cilantro to my American peeps) I don't normally have some in, but it was a gift along with the broccoli, so I added it.
1. Pop your potatoes on to boil. Boil until tender and easily pierced with a knife then drain and let sit until you are ready to Bombay them.
2. Put your roasting pan in the preheated oven and roast for 12 minutes then remove from the oven and carefully stir the chickpeas and flip the broccoli and roast for 12 more minutes.
3. Once your potatoes are cooked and drained start on the Bombay bit.
4. Heat 1 TB oil in a large pan until shimmering. Add the cumin seeds and when they start to pop add the onion. Cook until softened and glassy. Add the paste and the spices to the oil and stir to coat the onion. Add the potatoes and keep stirring until heated through and all the lovely spices have coated the potatoes and you feel you might just die of happiness. OK, maybe that last bit is just me.
5. Top with optional coriander. It does make it look pretty--like Christmas--with the green leaves and the red potatoes.
6. By now the roasties should be done and look something like this:
The broccoli should be slightly charred like this:
If you happen to have a bit of mango chutney lurking in your fridge this makes a lovely accompaniment. But if you don't have any, don't sweat it.
What foods are you obsessed with?
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