Okay…I’m going to admit this straight away. When my CSA put turnips in my weekly bin, I was completely stumped on what to make. I mean…turnips? What do you do with turnips?
A lot actually. There are so many delicious sounding recipes to try, but as I had a limited amount of time, I got online and started to try to figure out a meal I could make from these amazing little root vegetables. With a little help from the Fat Free Vegan, and a little recipe tweaking (I forgot to buy leeks at the grocery store and wasn’t going back out), I ended up cooking up my first Ethiopian-inspired dish.
The end result was a Chickpea and Turnip Stew with Ethiopian Spices, which is fine to eat as a stew, or to pour over rice, which is what I did. The best part is, this recipe is completely vegan and virtually fat free. Gotta love that. And, surprisingly enough…my roommate and I both enjoyed our stew.
So go ahead…give yourself a little taste of Ethiopia.
Recipe: Chickpea and Turnip Stew with Ethiopian Spices
Servings: 4
Time: Prep 15 minutes; Cook 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 pound small turnips
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger root (I ended up using 1/2 tsp ground ginger as my ginger root was old)
- 2 teaspoons berberé seasoning (I substituted Garam Masala)
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 4 cups vegetable broth or stock
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained well
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1/2 cup plain soymilk (I used unsweetened almond milk…but I bet coconut milk would rock!)
Directions:
Clean the turnips well. Trim off the tops and bottoms and then peel them. Cut them into 1/2-inch cubes.
Coat a large pot lightly with non-stick spray.
Add the onions and sauté until they begin to turn brown.
Add the ginger root, garam masala, and turmeric and sauté for another minute.
Add all the remaining ingredients except the soymilk.
Cook, covered, until the turnips are tender, about 20 minutes.
Remove about 1-1/2 cups of the stew and puree it in a blender. Return it to the pot, along with the soymilk.
Stir well until heated throughout and serve.
~*~*~
The flavor of this dish has a very distinct Indian feel to it. As I love Indian food, that’s fine by me. It’s not spicy at all. I sort of wish I had remembered to buy the leeks, but the stew didn’t suffer any from the lack of them. If, by chance, you give this recipe a try, the original one called for 3 leeks, white parts only, washed well and chopped. You add them when you put in the rest of the ingredients after the seasonings. But, since I forgot to buy them, I just added more turnips and carrots and called it even.
This stew was so easy to make. And when you taste it, you’ll definitely be taking your palate on a flavor journey. And with that said, I’m now hoping to receive some more turnips sometime in my CSA bin because I have other recipes to try.
Wanting to give some Ethiopian food a try? This recipe is simple, easy, and…yes…delicious!
The Celiathlete 