Indian food is sometimes surprisingly mild and comfort-foody, and this heartwarming lemony peppery loveliness really hits the spot. The combination of tangy lemon, spicy black pepper, creamy coconut, and traditional curry spices rounds out the flavour of this dish that’s also a barrage of textures, with tender potatoes, firm chickpeas, and crispy kale.

I came up with this one day when I was craving that lemony-peppery-creamy combination of flavours, and fancied something comfort-foody to carry it. Potatoes were the obvious winner, but I wanted something crispy and salty to go with… so what better than oven-crisped kale? This was one of those experiments that turned out just great, so now it’s time to share 😀

Here’s how to pull together a perfect Indian comfort-food dish that’s ideal for a cool evening… 😉

Flavour: Slightly spiced & tangy

Serves: 4 as a side dish, or 2 as a main meal

Ingredients:

• 1 large potato
• 1 cup chickpeas, soaked and pre-cooked (see here for how to prepare chickpeas)
• 1 bunch curly kale, roughly chopped into large chunks (these will reduce to little crispy bits in the oven)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon curry powder of your choice (I like to use a Madras mix)
• quarter teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• quarter cup coconut cream
• juice of 1 lemon
• generous grind black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 170c
2. Spread kale over large baking sheet, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and half a teaspoon of salt – pop in the oven until crispy (this should take about 30 minutes
   • Amateur tip: you may need to turn the kale once during this time to crisp it evenly
3. Bring small saucepan of water to the boil
4. Cut potatoes into rough chunks, approximately 2cm cubes
5. Boil potatoes for 5 minutes, then strain off, shaking the potatoes in the strainer to rough them up a little (this will help them crisp a little as they fry)
6. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in frying pan over high heat, and toss in the potatoes – cook for 5 minutes, shaking the pan every so often to ensure the potatoes cook evenly
7. While your potatoes are cooking, finely slice your onion, finely mince your garlic, and prepare the other ingredients
8. Toss in your onions with the potatoes, stir, and cook for another 2 minutes
9. Add the garlic and chickpeas, and cook for another 3 minutes – don’t worry if the chickpeas brown a little
10. Stir in your curry powder, turmeric and the rest of the salt, and cook for 1 more minute
11. Stir in coconut cream, lemon juice, and black pepper, reduce heat to medium, and cook until liquid has reduced and potatoes are cooked through
12. Remove lemon-pepper potatoes and chickpeas from heat, gently stir in crispy kale, and transfer to serving dish immediately – eat before the kale loses its crispiness!