Hugh's Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry

Although it's slipped a little bit of late (mostly because we're trying to empty the freezer), I'm still right behind the idea of having a veggie day at least one day a week.  We almost did it today, apart from the rasher of bacon that accidentally fell into the egg mayonnaise sandwiches we had for lunch.

My girlfriend bought me a copy of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Veg Every Day as an Easter present and it is a beautiful item - we've both been poring over it and deciding what to have.

As ever, it's important to use what you've got rather than going out to spend money on more ingredients so we chose this one because there was a Romanesco cauliflower in the fridge from last week's veg box that needed using up quite urgently.  Everything else was in the store cupboard.

I don't want to abuse copyright by blogging a recipe from such a recent source so I won't go through all the steps, but Hugh credits his dish as being an adaptation of an Angela Hartnett recipe which can be found here.  The differences are vanishingly small, but to be honest I think Hartnett's version may offer better results - at the end I added "enough water to cover the cauliflower" which led to my curry being mostly water.  I knew even while I was doing it that it was too much, so Hartnett's 100ml might be more sensible.

While searching for an online version of the recipe, I came across this post on the excellent Veg Every Day? blog.  I've got to be honest...  I agree with every word of their assessment.  It was tasty, but it was no more than the sum of its parts in terms of flavour.  On the other hand, it was filling, low-calorie and very cheap.

Unlike the Veg Every Day? crew, I can't claim that my version was quick because I used sodding dried chickpeas.  Once this packet is finished, I'm never, ever buying them again.  Granted, they're cheaper than tinned chickpeas, but they need 24 hours soaking and 45 minutes of cooking, and they're no nicer than tinned ones.  Even for a spendthrift like me, this is an area where convenience trumps cost.  It's not like tinned chickpeas are a massively expensive indulgence.