Here we go friends! … today’s recording and a printable PDF.
I hope you love this dish as much as we do. It feels physically as well as emotionally nourishing. That’s because a good meal can rally our energy in the face of life’s chaos and adversities. One of the best things for lifting deflated spirits is a restorative pot of bubbling yum. All the better if it uses leftovers loitering in your fridge.
Granted, eating cannot resolve our problems; this dish won’t pay the gas bill, it can’t undo the red sock in the white wash, and it sure as hell won’t affect the Strait of Hormuz. But what it can do is soothe disappointment and massage frayed nerves. That’s where food can help. And we could all use a comforting dish during crazy confusing times.
With this in mind, here is a simple recipe stewarding potatoes, chickpeas, spices, toms and leftovers into your favourite kitchen pot. The result is bonkers delicious, as well as being another successful vegetarian meal for your library of meat-free options.
Aside from being tasty and cheap, chickpeas help to feed your gut microbes and squad of SCFAs. Fun fact! Lentils and chickpeas boost the production of faecalibacterium, a major butyrate producer and impressive inflammation referee. Peas seem to nourish bifidobacteria, also linked to lower inflammation says GI specialist Dr Karan Rajan. And, says he, beansbeautifulbeans have shown an increase in the production of akkermansia in our gut, tied to good metabolic health. Different legumes fuel different species of microbes in our gut. I feel a poem coming on.
The topic of gut health is bewitching, and the research available is utterly absorbing. Plus, given that our happy hormone, serotonin, is in fact made in the gut and not in the brain, we need to be paying much more attention to this prime real-estate in our body. This Substack space hopes to do exactly that.
What else???
There’s iron in chickpeas, especially handy for our vegetarian friends; energy-boosting B vitamins to help resuscitate spent batteries (think B for Bolt, Usain Bolt); tomato-rich lycopene for heart and skin health from the tomato bath; prebiotic-rich onions and garlic to feed the party in our pipes; sulphur compounds in these very same foods, to help with our calcium economy and bone density; cholesterol-lowering extra virgin olive oil; and live strains of good bacteria from our sourcream to help with digestion and house-keeping within the intestinal walls.
Phew!
Quite aside from the nutritional yah-yah, it tastes damned delicious. Freezes well. And costs very little.
As always, these healthyassed recipes are the preserve of my paid community, whose subscriptions allow me to continue to write this newsletter, buy ingredients, test and film recipes, style as well as shoot photos. If you’ve been enjoying the newsletter in its free form, please consider upgrading to become a fancy full member, which will mean you get access to my entire recipe archive too.
I appreciate the love and support. I don’t take your attention for granted. I want to supercharge your battery with easy, nutritious recipes that will be your weaponry for your body’s armour in 2026.
Love, light and chickpea maracas,
Susan J
// Smoky Chickpea & Potato Stew //
Serves 6
1 large brown onion, peeled (leeks also fabulous)
Squeeze of honey or maple syrup
6-8 cloves garlic
1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 & 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 fresh hot chilli, or sprinkle of chilli flakes
1x400g tinned toms (passata also works)
Approx 550g cooked chickpeas & their aqua faba (freshly cooked or jarred)
800g-1kg (maximum) cooked or leftover baby spuds
1 lemon, unwaxed (optional zest and juice)
1 x 225g block halloumi, cubed and fried
Step 1
Start by tenderly sweating your onions over a low heat for 15 minutes. Add the honey and garlic, and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Step 2
Shake in your spices, whack the heat up, and add the tinned toms. Stir well, before tumbling in the chickpeas with their aqua faba as well as your leftover potatoes. Grate over the lemon zest.
Step 3
Allow to bubble and cook for 10 minutes. You can fry up your halloumi during this time, and prep your chosen cheese (grated Parmesan is also ace, as is garlic yoghurt).
Step 4
Serve as is, or with brown rice and wedges of soft-boiled eggs to stretch it to 8 portions.
