There are some celebrity chefs, foodie personalities and bloggers that I love, and I rush to cook or bake whatever I see them make – people like The Barefoot Contessa, Claire Saffitz and of course Smitten Kitchen. But weirdly, there’s another subset of chefs that I love even though I NEVER make any of their recipes. These are faves like Sohla El-Waylly and the number one offender: Alison Roman.

I love watching Alison’s YouTube show Home Movies every week, even though I’ve never cooked anything from the episodes in the year or so since it started. I don’t really know why, maybe it’s just that there’s a lot of meat, or the recipes are for a crowd when I’m really just cooking for myself these days. In any case, I still love watching and was missing new videos when they took a break at the beginning of the year.

So I started re-watching her old videos from the NYT Cooking days and was reminded of this recipe for “The Stew”. This recipe went viral back in 2019 (nothing like being three years late to an internet trend) and as I watched it, I was like – oh yeah – I would actually like that!

This is a soup/stew filled with chickpeas, onion, garlic, turmeric and coconut milk and finished with a bunch of leafy greens. It’s warm and filling and I loved having it for lunch everyday this week. Really shouldn’t have waited so long to try this!

Coconut Turmeric Chickpea Stew

Source: Alison Roman via NYT Cooking

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tbsp minced ginger
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp chili flakes (or more if you like heat)
  • 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2 cans coconut milk
  • 1 cup vegetable or chicken stock
  • 1 bunch dark leafy greens, torn into bite-size pieces (I used kale)

Directions

  1. Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven or large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and ginger, season with salt and pepper, and cook until the onion has softened, about 3-5 minutes.
  2. Add the turmeric, chili flake and chickpeas, season again with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring frequently until the chickpeas start to break down, about 8-10 minutes. (At this point Alison asks you to remove about a cup of the chickpeas to set aside to garnish with later, but this did nothing for me; I would just skip this next time).
  3. Use your spatula or spoon to crush some of the chickpeas against the side of the pot, which will add different textures to the stew and help to thicken it.
  4. Add the coconut milk and stock and season once again with salt and pepper.
  5. Bring to a simmer and scrape up any bits that have formed on the bottom of the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the stew has thickened and is the texture/thickness you want, about 30-35 minutes (I think I let mine cook for 45 minutes).
  6. Add the greens and stir, and let simmer until they wilt, about 5 minutes. Alison says the greens don’t hold up well in the stew but mine sat in the fridge for a few days and it was totally fine.
  7. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.
  8. Garnish soup bowls with chili flakes, fresh herbs (I used cilantro), a dollop of plain yogurt and a drizzle of olive oil if you like.