Pumpkiny Vegetable and Chickpea Curry

The secret to making this taste pumpkin rich is to cut the pumpkin into little squares, and add it right at the very beginning. It breaks down and mixes with the coconut milk, creating a rich pumpkiny sauce for the other vegetables - delish!

Pumpkiny Vegetable and Chickpea Curry

1 onion, finely diced
2 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons red curry paste
1/4 small pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1 cm squares
400 gram tin coconut milk
1 1/2 cups water (375ml)
1 eggplant, diced
1 red capsicum, diced
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
400 gram tin chickpeas (garbanzos), rinsed and drained
Steamed brown rice, to serve

1 - Heat the oil over a medium high heat in a large pan. Add the onion, and cook until the onion is golden and tender.

2 - Add the curry paste, and cook for another minute more.

3 - Add the coconut milk, water, eggplant and pumpkin, and bring to the boil. Lower heat, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring regularly.

4 - Add the capsicum and simmer for 5 minutes more.

5 - Add the chickpeas and broccoli, and cook for another few minutes, or until the broccoli is tender. Serve over the brown rice.

Rosemary and Chickpea Pasta

This is a meal for Friday nights, when you head is aching, your feet are tired, and your belly has been rumbling since four in the afternoon. So settle down with a large serving of this, and a favourite magazine and enjoy the weekend!

Rosemary and Chickpea Pasta

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
800 gram tin crushed tomatoes
400 gram tin chickpeas
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
500 grams penne
freshly ground pepper

1 - Cook the penne in a large saucepan of salted water according to the time on the packet, or until the pasta is al dente. Drain.

2 - Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a saucepan over a medium low heat. Saute the onion gently until golden and tender.

3 - Add the tomatoes, grated carrot and rosemary, and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer until the sauce is nice and thick.

4 - Add the chickpea and lots of freshly ground pepper, and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove half the sauce and puree it. Add the puree back into the pan with the rest of the sauce, heat through and then serve over the penne.

Green salad

2 handfuls mixed lettuce leaves
1 ripe avocado, diced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

Put the lettuce and avocado into a bowl. Mix the oil, vinegar and mustard together in a small cup, then pour over the salad. Toss to combine, then serve immediately.

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Curry

This was one of those: Hmm, what the heck shall we have for dinner tonight. Better open up the cupboard and see what's hiding in there. Oh great - sweet mother of nothing. Hang on - I spy a sweet potato! And there's an old capsicum in the fridge, right next to that handful of spinach that I forgot to put into my sandwhich yesterday. I'm pretty sure I've got a can of chickpeas in the pantry. That's it - dinner is served!"

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2cm squares
1 red capsicum, roughly chopped
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 or 2 handfuls of spinach leaves, washed well
1 800g tin crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons hot curry powder
400g chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
coriander, to serve
cooked brown rice, to serve

1 - Steam the sweet potato in a steamer until just tender. Remove.

2 - Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Saute the onion until golden, then add the red capsicum, garlic and curry powder. Stir and cook for a minute or two.

3 - Add the tomatoes and chickpeas, bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and spinach, and carefully simmer until the spinach has wilted. Be careful not to moosh the sweet potatoes too much! Add coriander to taste, then serve over the brown rice.