Chickpea dumplings in red curry coconut spinach uses my freezer red curry sauce to save time making this filling vegetarian meals!

Happy New Year! Hope you had a blast ringing in 2016 last night! We hosted a formal football party at our house to watch our Clemson Tigers in the playoffs. And most importantly, watching the Tigers WIN to play in the National Championship game! Basically we got to wear sparkly dresses while drinking beer and screaming at the top of our lungs. It was great! I can't wrap my head around the fact that we're actually going to play in the championship. I actually cried a little bit!

Just popping in today with a recipe I whipped up last week and absolutely fell in love with! When my taste buds are tired of rich, holiday food, I tend to crave spicy, ethnic dishes and tons of vegetables - salads with Southwest flavors, vegetable packed soba noodle stir fries, and warm, cozy vegetarian curries.

If you've got some of my freezer red curry coconut sauce stored away, this recipe takes only 20 minutes or so of prep. If not, this is a great excuse to whip up a big batch so you can freeze a little extra for later. Since I'm on a theme of time saving this year, I should also mention it's totally acceptable to use a store bought curry sauce to make this. I'm a huge fan of Saffron Road's curry sauces, which you can order online or find at Kroger, Target and Earth Fare.

Side note: People always ask me about healthy convenience foods and I'm always impressed by the ready to eat Indian foods on the market, both for taste and nutrition. When we don't feel like cooking, one of us will grab a couple cans/packets from the ethnic food aisle, usually one with lentils or chickpeas (this lentil curry is EVERYTHING) and another with spinach (this is our other go-to), heat and serve.

Also, these chickpea dumplings are pretty quick to throw together too. They use chickpea flour, which you can find in the baking or gluten free aisle, or purchase in bulk from most health food stores. Use leftover flour to make these savory breakfast pancakes. Getting back to our whole time saving theme, as delicious as these dumplings are, it is 100% appropriate to just swap in a can of chickpeas on a busy night. But definitely make these dumplings if you can because who doesn't love dumplings, except for my father-in-law, a trait my husband thankfully didn't inherit. Because otherwise I might not have married him. #truth.

Chickpea Dumplings in Red Curry Coconut Spinach

Serves 4

If you don't have my freezer red curry sauce on hand, save time by using jarred curry sauce or swap a can of chickpeas for the dumplings.

Ingredients

1/2 portion of freezer red curry sauce (~ 3 cups)
2 6-ounce bags baby spinach

Chickpea Dumplings:

1 14-ounce can chickpeas
3/4 cup chickpea flour
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 egg
1/4 cup plain yogurt
Cilantro and hot sauce, for garnish

Instructions

First, make the chickpea dumpling batter. Place chickpeas in a large bowl. Mash lightly with the back of a fork. Add flour, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro, salt and turmeric and mix to combine. Add egg and yogurt, mix with a fork until fully incorporated. Set aside until ready to use.
Bring red curry sauce to a simmer in a large, sided skillet. Add spinach, cover, and reduce heat. Cook until spinach is wilted, about 5-10 minutes, then stir to combine.
Using a large tablespoon, dollop scoops of dumpling mixture over the spinach curry. You should end up with about 8 dumplings. Cover with lid, increase heat to medium and cook 8 minutes until dumplings are cooked through but tender.
Serve with cilantro and hot sauce for garnish.