Sweet Potato & Chickpea Curry
Jamie Oliver’s £1 Wonders are simple, delicious recipes coming in at £1 per portion. If you’re looking for new family favourites that are affordable and packed with veg, try these!
Family meals that don’t cost the earth!
Looking for some new family favourites that are still simple and affordable?
With more than 30 delicious dishes that won’t blow the budget, Jamie Oliver’s £1 Wonders recipe collection has something for everyone. Featuring Jamie’s tried-and-tested recipes for quick roasts, satisfying stews and tasty pastas, these meals all come in at less than £1 a portion and are sure to become your new family favourites.
We love this sweet potato & chickpea curry from Jamie! Microwave cooking is low energy and low cost, and a great way to pack more veg into a meal without fancy cooking techniques. We hope it will become one of your family’s favourites, too.
To find more inspiration from Jamie’s £1 Wonders, just download the free PDF of the whole collection or visit the website here.
Sweet Potato & Chickpea Curry
Jamie Oliver
Serves: 2
Prep time: 35 mins
Ingredients:
160g frozen leaf spinach
½ a mug of basmati rice (150g)
1 onion
4cm piece of ginger
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons tomato purée
1 heaped teaspoon curry powder
vegetable oil
1 green chilli
1 small sweet potato (200g)
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
2 tablespoons natural yoghurt
Method:
1. Take the spinach out of the freezer and place on a plate to start defrosting.
2. Place the rice in a 2-litre microwave-proof dish or bowl with 1 mug of water (300ml) and a pinch of sea salt and cover the bowl with a lid or a side plate. Cook in the microwave on a medium heat (400-500W) for 8 to 10 minutes (depending on the strength of your microwave), then remove and leave to steam with the lid on.
3. Meanwhile, peel the onion, ginger and garlic. Place a box grater in a microwaveproof dish and grate the onion and ginger on the coarse side, followed by the garlic on the fine side.
4. Add the tomato purée to the dish, along with the curry powder, a pinch of sea salt and 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, and stir everything together. Prick the green chilli and sweet potato with a sharp knife, then add both to the dish and cover with a plate or lid. Set the microwave to high (800W) and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Carefully lift the dish out of the microwave and uncover. Using tongs, remove the sweet potato, place on your board and slice into 3cm chunks, then stir back into the bowl. Add the chickpeas (juice and all), along with the frozen spinach, stir together, then cover and cook in the microwave on a high heat (800W) for another 10 minutes.
6. Carefully lift the dish out of the microwave, uncover and stir everything together, breaking up the spinach with your spoon. Carefully taste (it will be hot), season to perfection with salt and black pepper, then stir in the yoghurt.
7. Remove the chilli to your board, finely slice and stir back into the curry for added heat, to your taste, then fork up the rice, to serve.
Engaging Kids
Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.
Kids in the kitchen
Let the kids measure out and prep the rice for the microwave and push the buttons. They can add the chickpeas and frozen spinach to the bowl carefully (the bowl will be hot) and stir to mix everything together. They will also enjoy stirring the yogurt through at the end.
Activities
While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.
Sensory
Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.
Serving
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.
Kids in the Kitchen
Let the kids measure out and prep the rice for the microwave and push the buttons. They can add the chickpeas and frozen spinach to the bowl carefully (the bowl will be hot) and stir to mix everything together. They will also enjoy stirring the yogurt through at the end.
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