After making lots of soups and curries I wanted to make a different kind of hearty meal for the cold, wintery nights we’re finally having so a stew it is! I’ve always loved sweet potato (almost as much as normal potato!) and you can’t keep me away from chickpeas so this was definitely right up my alley. The combination of lots of veggies and spices made for a delicious, warming meal which also made lots of leftovers to stock my freezer for the weeks ahead.
Curries have long been a favourite of mine, they featured regularly on the menu at home when I was growing up, and they were one of the first things I learnt to cook for myself (albeit leaning rather heavily on a jar of curry paste!). When I first went vegetarian I relied on curries and stir-fries a lot, and whilst I might be a little more adventurous with my cooking these days I still love a good curry on a cold, grey Melbourne night.
Melbourne has embraced December as only Melbourne can – with a mixture of super warm days and then some well, not so summery days. I took advantage of one of the cooler days to turn on the oven and whip up this salad, which I then proceeded to eat for dinner for the next few warm days when cooking something warm was the furthest from what I wanted to be doing!
Every time I make dip I wonder why I ever buy it – it’s so simple, so fast and generally so much tastier when you make it yourself! I’m a big fan of hummus as I find it makes an excellent dip but is equally delicious as a spread in a sandwich so when trying to decide what to make for work this week I decided a variation on hummus was in order. I had seen sun dried tomatoes on special at my local Turkish grocer recently so decided they would do the trick and it turned out deliciously. Smooth and creamy with a nice little kick from the cayenne pepper – perfect!
During the recent AFL finals series I found myself home on a Friday or Saturday night each weekend cheering on my beloved Sydney Swans until they unfortunately bowed out for the year. I’m a mad football fan but B is somewhat less enthused so I decided I would make up for yet another Saturday night in by whipping up some hearty homemade pumpkin and chickpea burgers, served with thick-cut chips to help ease his pain (and ultimately mine too, as the Swans lost that night, boo). They turned out really delicious and it was probably lucky we ate them before a night on the couch as we were so full that we couldn’t move far anyway! Now to get ready for the cricket season to commence!