Jamaican Curry Chickpeas (Vegan, Slow Cooker Version)

A delicious, wholesome recipe that consists of chickpeas made into a vegan friendly Jamaican style curry. Using a combination of sweet potato, herbs, spices and coconut milk for flavour and consistency, cooked for several hours in a slow cooker.

I don't know about you but I just love using my slow cooker for so many recipes, including my Caribbean ones.

This curry chickpeas recipe is a perfect example of how Caribbean food and a slow cooker was just meant to be.

I'm telling you now, you gotta try this curry, this way, because that several hours of cooking really helps to bring out the flavour and yield the best texture too.

It's a really simple recipe to make, that starts with soaking the chickpeas first. I've never added unsoaked chickpeas to my slow cooker instead I soak them first of all, par boil them to guarantee the chickpeas are cooked evenly and problem free.

Then continue with the recipe to hand, it's one of those recipes which doesn't require much effort.

Aside from chopping up some vegetables and soaking/par boiling the chickpeas, the slow cooker does the rest of the work.

Which is why I like to fall back on this recipe especially during those cold, wintery months when I just want a taste of some Caribbean sunshine by way of food.

The steps

• Rinse the dried chickpeas several times before placing them in a medium sized bowl.
• Fill the bowl with lukewarm water and leave the chickpeas to soak overnight or for several hours.
• Rinse chickpeas again, add the chickpeas to a medium sized saucepan with water and par-boil the chickpeas for 10 minutes (This helps to ensure even cooking during the slow cooking process).
• As the chickpeas are par boiling, add the olive oil to a skillet along with 1 tablespoon worth of the curry powder and cook the curry for 30 seconds on medium heat.

• Now add the onion, scallion, garlic and ginger to the skillet and proceed to saute until soft and translucent.
• Transfer the onion, garlic mixture into your slow cooker unit (my unit is removable so I don’t need to do this).
• Then add the chickpeas (make sure you drain off the water first of all) and pour in the coconut milk and warm water.
• Now add your herbs and spices - the paprika, all purpose seasoning, the remaining curry powder, allspice (pimento), thyme, black pepper, tomato paste and scotch bonnet.
• Add the sweet potato and cho cho.
• Stir the entire contents so everything is evenly combined and be sure to push the tied bundle of thyme to the bottom of your unit as this will ensure the thyme leaves pull away from the stem.
• Place the lid on your slow cooker and cook for 4 hours on HIGH.
• About 1 hour - 45 minutes before the cooking time is done check the liquid levels of the curry, you may want to add a splash of water now just to loosen things up/yield more sauce for the chickpeas.
• Once the cooking time is done, be sure to do a taste test and adjust seasoning levels with pink salt and black pepper according to taste.
• Remove the thyme stems and scotch bonnet before serving.

Notes and tips

• This is a freezer friendly recipe so feel free to freeze down any leftovers for up to 3 months.
• This is the recipe for my Homemade Curry Powder and All Purpose Seasoning.
• This recipe serves around 4-6 people.
• Don't use canned chickpeas for this recipe as they will be way too soft and will most likely turn to mush if slow cooked for several hours.
• Should you have excess liquid leftover, then simply slow cook the curry for a bit longer.
• My slow cooker is highly absorbent, if yours is the same then adding that splash of water near to the end of cooking will beneficial.
• You will find the red skinned sweet potato and cho cho available at any Caribbean supermarket/market place.
• The chickpeas should be extremely soft when cooked, they should not be hard or al dente, if they are after cooking, it could be because the chickpeas are very old.
• Feel free to add any additional ingredients i.e carrots, bell peppers etc..
• Make sure you are using the Caribbean red skin sweet potatoes with the white flesh as they will hold up the best during several hours of slow cooking.
• If you cannot find cho cho then zucchini/courgette is a good substitute.

Side dishes suggestions

• Gluten Free Roti
• Brown Rice
• Cauliflower Rice
• Ochro Rice
• Steamed Cabbage
• Steamed Vegetables
• Roast Breadfruit

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