Curry Channa and Aloo (Vegan, GF)

Love Chickpeas? Then I got you with this delicious Trinidadian style cuisine called Curry channa and aloo, curried chickpeas cooked down in fragrant spices with potatoes served on a bed of brown rice to optimise nutrition. Free from coconut milk and no tomatoes are required for the actual curry.

This recipe hails from the island of Trinidad and Tobago also known as sweet T&T.

Trust me it is super tasty and is guaranteed to be a family favourite and comes together in less than a hour.

It all started with a family friend from Arima in Trinidad , whenever I’d pay her a flying visit, she’d always have something amazing cooking in the kitchen. 

Being from different islands provided us with the perfect opportunity to exchange culinary differences, sometimes we’d exchange recipes or just have a general chit chat. One thing for sure, we both shared a love for cooking.

I’ll never forget the day our friend introduced us to channa and aloo  aka aloo channa which basically translates to chickpeas and potatoes.

It was brimming with flavour and so aromatic, as I sat there waiting for her to serve dinner my mouth was literally watering, it was so embarrassing but in hindsight that’s what her food did to us.

In short this recipe pays homage to her because she shared her unique way of making this dish. I tweaked the recipe a bit by using Caribbean sweet potatoes because I love them more than russet/Irish potatoes. 

I also struggle at the best of times to get shado beni so used green seasoning along with cilantro to compensate for that unique taste.

You can use dried or canned chickpeas, I tend to use dried chickpeas and simply cooked a huge batch and freeze them down.

Ingredients you will need

Cooking chickpeas

We know that dried chickpeas are more affordable then buying individual cans, however a lot of people rely on them because of convenience.

The best way to save money and time in the long run is to batch cook your legumes (in this case your chickpeas) freeze them down in a zip lock/ freezer bag and use accordingly.

Be sure to use any of the following cooking methods;

• Instant pot: Set your unit for 25 minutes on high pressure
• Stove top: Cook the chickpeas on medium heat, lid on for up to an hour.

The steps

• On medium heat, add the oil and heat up a non stick skillet/dutch pot.
• Temper (fry) the cumin seeds until they become fragrant (don’t burn) (Picture 1)
  
• Add the onion, garlic and chives (scallion) saute until they are soft and translucent (Picture 2)
• Stir the curry paste and cook the curry mixture for about 1 minute (Picture 3)
• Add the remaining seasoning the black pepper, green seasoning, cilantro, pink salt and scotch bonnet if you are using it and stir for another minute (Picture 4)
• Add the chickpeas and sweet potatoes and coat in the seasoning (Picture 5)
• Pour the hot water into the dutch pot/skillet (picture 6)
• Bring to a rolling boil, reduce the heat to medium/low, cover with a lid then allow to simmer for 30 minutes until most of the liquid adsorb and the curry thickens up.

Serving suggestions

Typically Trinidadians will serve this dish with some roti but making gluten free roti is still a little sketchy areas righr now so I opted for some Brown Rice instead. 

If you are looking for a low carb option then my Herb Cauliflower Rice is more suitable.

Notes and tips

• Chives are the Trinidadian name of scallion/spring onion
• I used green seasoning and cilantro (coriander leaves) in place of shado beni because it’s not easy to get in the UK. If you don’t care to cilantro use just the Green Seasoning alone.
• If there is still a lot of liquid leftover then increase the heat to high so it evaporates most of it.
• Use the amount of scotch bonnet you need, the raw heat is in the membrane and by using a whole scotch bonnet means you won’t get any heat just flavour.
• Cumin is quite a pungent spice which is why I only use 1/2 tsp, if you are familiar with the taste of cumin and don’t need like it then simply skip tempering the spice.
• Make sure the chickpeas are canned or cooked already, see the recipe post on how to cook your dried chickpeas a head of time.
• If you are not using dried chickpeas grab 2 cans of chickpeas in water (not salt) drain off the water.
• This meal is freezer friendly so freeze down any leftovers.

More Trinidadian recipes you should try

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Curry Channa and Aloo

Delicious channa (chickpeas) and aloo (potatoes) is a copy cat version of this Trinidadian recipe using sweet potatoes for nutritional density.

5 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Entree

Cuisine: Trinidadian

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 183kcal

Author: Charla

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked chickpeas 2 14oz cans of chickpeas, drained
• 1 tbsp + 1tsp of curry powder mixed with 3 tbsp of water
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 tbsp of coriander use 3 leaves of culantro if available
• 1 tbsp green seasoning
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 1/4 tsp of black pepper
• 1 tsp himalayan pink salt
• 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds or use powder
• 3 chives (scallion) sliced
• 3 medium sweet potatoes cubed and peeled
• scotch bonnet optional, use what you need
• 2 tbsp olive/coconut oil for sauteing
• 2 1/2 cups hot water

Instructions

• On medium heat, add the oil and heat up a non stick skillet/dutch pot
• Temper (fry) the cumin seeds until they become fragrant (don't burn)
• Add the onion, garlic and chives (scallion) saute until they are soft and translucent.
• Stir the curry paste and cook the curry mixture for about 1 minute.
• Add the remaining seasoning the black pepper, green seasoning, cilantro, pink salt and scotch bonnet if you are using it and stir for another minute
• Add the chickpeas and sweet potatoes and coat in the seasoning
• Pour the hot water into the dutch pot/skillet
• Bring to a rolling boil, reduce the heat to medium/low, cover with a lid then allow to simmer for 30 minutes until most of the liquid adsorb and the curry thickens up. Once cooked to a taste test to adjust for additional salt or pepper if needed.

Notes

• Chives are the Trinidadian name of scallion/spring onion
• I used green seasoning and cilantro (coriander leaves) in place of shado beni because it's not easy to get in the UK. If you don't care to cilantro use just the Green Seasoning alone.
• If there is still a lot of liquid leftover then increase the heat to high so it evaporates most of it.
• Use the amount of scotch bonnet you need, the raw heat is in the membrane and by using a whole scotch bonnet means you won't get any heat just flavour.
• Cumin is quite a pungent spice which is why I only use 1/2 tsp, if you are familiar with the taste of cumin and don't need like it then simply skip tempering the spice.
• Make sure the chickpeas are canned or cooked already, see the recipe post on how to cook your dried chickpeas a head of time.
• If you are not using dried chickpeas grab 2 cans of chickpeas in water (not salt) drain off the water.
• This meal is freezer friendly so freeze down any leftovers.

Nutrition

Calories: 183kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 628mg | Potassium: 561mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 9342IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 80mg | Iron: 3mg

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