Spicy Chickpeas and Spinach

This Spicy Chickpea side dish is great with curries and can be a superb replacement for rice if you’re counting the carbs. Chickpeas can be very boring on there own, but with all the extras this dish is very yummy and packed full of flavour.

Although chickpeas are higher in fat than rice they have less carbohydrates in them and are packed with protein, vitamins and minerals. Being high in folate and iron chickpeas have got lots of benefits for your body.

Spinach is great to and goes really well with chickpeas and very low in calories so adding 120g to your side dish is going to be about 25-30 calories. Also it’s a rich source in vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K and magnesium.

The first time I had chickpeas was in Bermuda, my diet was very basic when I lived there mainly for the fact that everything was very expensive but also I didn’t have many cooking skills – believe it or not I had never even fried an egg until I lived out there! Living at home until the age of 26 I pretty much had every thing done for me. Thats all I knew, I would Skype home and hold things up to my mum and ask her how long it would have to be cooked for! She says she can’t believe how far I’ve come in the kitchen and look at me now with my own food blog.

When I was living in Bermuda most things I bought in the supermarket were in tins and this is how I came across the chickpeas. My housemate Sherine gave me the idea of chickpeas in my diet, as things were so expensive out there and nothing really kept fresh for more than a coupe of days so I did waste a lot of food. When I first arrived there I had cheese sandwiches every day as a block of cheese went a long way. Then I started to get bored and began having salads with chickpeas in – variety is the spice of life after all!

Next time you make a curry be sure to try this recipe as a great addition! Which sides do you normally go for?

Spicy Chickpeas and Spinach

Try replacing rice with this spicy chickpea side dish as it’s low in carbs and packed full of flavour!

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Total Time 5 minutes mins

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

  

• 400 g canned chickpeas
• 1/2 small onion sliced
• 4 baby tomatoes chopped
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• handful fresh coriander
• pinch chilli powder more if desired
• splash water
• salt and pepper
• 120 g spinach

Instructions

 

• Fry the onions in a bit of oil in a saucepan until soft.
• Add the tomatoes and tomato puree and give it a good stir.
• Add the chickpeas and stir.
• Then add all the spices and stir it in so the chickpeas are coated.
• Add the fresh coriander and splash of water and give it a good stir.
• Add the spinach and cook for about 3-4 minutes until the spinach is cooked.
• Serve with your favourite curry! Enjoy!