Lately I've been trying to cook meals that are largely vegetarian. Grant eats meat every day for lunch, and we're not cutting out meat completely (I'd say I cook with meat once a week and we eat out at least once, which invariably contains meat), so we're still getting enough protein. The decision was mainly made for health purposes--but it doesn't hurt that it's much cheaper and takes much less time to cook. 

Trying to hit all of our nutritional needs without meat in a meal is an adventure, so I've been experimenting with lots of different recipes. This one was based loosely on a recipe I found here, but because I just roll with what I have in my cupboard, I out my own spin on it. 

Ingredients: 

1 cup chickpeas (rinsed if canned)

3 cups frozen peas

1 red onion

2-3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp. ginger

1.5 tbsp. saffron (or coconut) oil

3 tbsp. cumin

1 jalepeno, sliced

1 tbsp. curry spice

1.5 tsp. salt

1 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. red chili powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tbsp. butter

(opt.) 1/4 cup corn starch

Directions: 

1. Mince garlic and ginger in food processor. Add chopped onion and pulse a few times until nearly minced. Thinly slice jalepeno. (If you want the recipe to be less spicy, remove seeds. If you want it to be mild, do not include jalepeno.)

2. Add oil, garlic, onion, ginger and jalepeno to large saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 6-8 minutes until soft and fragrant. 

3. Add spices, stirring constantly. Cook for approximately 1 minute. 

4. Add peas, chickpeas and water. Stir to coat. Cover and cook for about 10 minute, stirring occasionally. 

**If you want to thicken your sauce, add corn starch after 10 minutes, then continue cooking for 5 minutes. If not, your sauce will be watery, but less calorically intrusive :) Cook for 15 minutes if not using corn starch. 

5. Remove cover and cook on high for 2 minutes. Add butter and stir. 

6. Serve and enjoy!

We served ours over mashed cauliflower because we only had frozen cauliflower (processing frozen cauliflower will just puree it. If you have fresh cauliflower, making cauliflower rice is super easy and a great low-carb option. Saffron or white rice works great too!