So I was going to write a blog post earlier in the week, but then again I was going to do a lot of things this week, for one move into my new place! However, unfortunately a very large spanner was thrown into the works when who would have been my new housemate cancelled the whole thing a couple of hours before I was meant to move in! Even writing it still makes me astounded that something like that could happen, and its meant I’m back at square one with a whole weekend wasted! I’m looking at it positively though, I mean if she was like this before I moved in, it’s really a blessing in disguise that her true colours showed before I had all my stuff in her place!

I’m also so lucky that I have an amazing best friend who has taken me in to help me in my homeless state! She most importantly knows how to make me feel better (hint: it involves a bottle of wine, chocolate and Italian food), and she’s really helped me to pick myself up and move onto bigger and better things!

So I am writing this blog post and thinking back on last week, and although I am in a very different place to where I thought I would be, I’m not too concerned. Sometimes things don’t work out as planned, but it’s not the worst thing in the world! You just have to move on and stay positive.

Oh man, now I’m sounding like one of those Instagram quotes that take up valuable room on my feed that could be filled with food! The reason I brought up all of this up was to contextualise this blog post, because again it is a food story around my best friend. We haven’t lived in the same state for three years, so I’m getting all the time in I can get! Plus, she’s been looking after me so much, so I thought it would be nice to cook her up a little something while she was going for a run this afternoon.

I have been eating a lot of vegetarian food while I have been down in Melbourne, as my friend is vegetarian. She is always opening my eyes to different and delicious ways to eat vegetarian, and I’m surprised by how much I am enjoying it! Plus, it is a lot cheaper to eat, especially when you are just one person, so it is a real winner when you are trying to save on the cash.

I had a couple of things left over from my grocery shop, and I was surprised by how easily I could put this tasty Spanish chickpea dish together! It always amazes me how little ingredients you actually need to make really delicious food, and how quickly you can have a tasty dish on your plate if you don’t over complicate things!

So I hope that you enjoy this recipe for Spanish chickpeas as much as we did. A warning: the dish did have a spicy kick, so add less chilli flakes if you can’t take the heat!

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Spicy Spanish Chickpeas

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

25 mins

 

Servings: 2 serves

Author: Ella Eats

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• 1 brown onion finely diced
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
• A pinch of salt
• A pinch of ground pepper
• 1 can of chickpeas rinsed
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• ½ cup of water
• 1 cup of baby spinach

Instructions

1. In a medium sized frypan, heat the olive oil over a medium heat. Add the chopped brown onion, and cook, stirring occasionally until the onion becomes translucent
2. Add the garlic, smoked paprika, dried chilli flakes and salt and pepper, and stir into the onion. Cook for about 1 minute.
3. Add the chickpeas, canned tomatoes and water to the frypan and stir. Bring to a boil and then lower the temperature to bring to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the baby spinach and stir until it cooks down, about 2 minutes.
5. Serve over rice or on its own, whatever takes your fancy!

I told you it was easy! I was surprised by how simple the recipe was to make, and how little spices you needed to make the chickpeas taste amazing! You know how much I love a quick and easy recipe, but it’s an added bonus when the resulting dish is this tasty! This was really delicious over rice or by itself, and I served it with a little salad for some freshness. It would be a perfect winter meal, which is something I need more of in my recipe bank now that I live in Melbourne!

My friend was really happy to have a delicious meal as soon as she got home from a run, and it was really fun actually cooking for someone else. It’s no fun cooking for one, because food is really something I always enjoy with other people! So to have the opportunity to cook for her was really nice, plus I got to test out a new recipe!

I’ll be home on the weekend, so maybe I’ll be able to get some baking time in! Fingers crossed, as I’m really missing my baking!

Until next time, happy eating!

Ella xx