Chickpea Curry with Yogurt

A note on spices: yes, they're expensive, but they add the most wonderful flavor to any meal. I currently have 43 different spices in my kitchen cabinet - who says vegans can't eat diversely?

As for this recipe, it comes together really quickly once you start to cook, so I recommend doing all the prep work before you start things over the stove. Because it's so quick, it makes a great weeknight meal for one or two people.

Heat a teaspoon of peanut oil over medium heat in a medium skillet. Add 1/2 a tsp. cumin, 1/4 tsp. coriander, 3 whole cardamom pods, one cinnamon stick and one bay leaf, and cook for about 30 seconds until it becomes fragrant. Stir in 3/4 cup of chopped onion and saute for 2 minutes. Add 2 minced garlic cloves and a teaspoon of ground ginger and saute another 30 seconds. Add in a teaspoon of garam masala (an indian spice blend) and saute another 10 seconds.

Add half a cup of water, a quarter cup of chopped plum tomato, one can of drained chickpeas and a 1/4 tsp. salt. Let it come to a simmer and cook it for five minutes.

Remove from heat and remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaf; add 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro and 1/2 cup of plain soy yogurt. Soy yogurts, much like the cheeses, have made tremendous progress over the past few years - they don't have that chalky taste anymore like they did when I first became vegan. My favorite of the plain flavor soy yogurts is by Whole Soy.

http://www.wholesoyco.com/

(They also, incidentally, make great vegan ice cream, but we'll save that for dessert...)

Anyway, now you're done. You have two, one-cup servings, at 270 calories each.

Cost:
onion $0.59
plum tomato $1.25
canned chickpeas $0.99
cilantro $1.49
plain soy yogurt $0.99

the only spice I needed to buy this time around were the cinnamon sticks, but they'll generally run you about $4 a pop. Still, I highly recommend building up that spice cabinet!