Curried Chick Pea and Red Potato Hash

Does anyone remember that show “Ready, Set, Cook?”  Basically it was a game show where you got a box of random ingredients and had to make dinner out of it.  Some of the cooking reality shows use a similar premise now, but I liked this show because the professionals had to work with regular people to get the meal prepared.  Plus it was a great way to spend thirty minutes running on the treadmill.  I still generally watch cooking shows while on the treadmill — not sure if that is incentive or punishment.

But I do love the challenge of taking very disparate items and somehow bringing them together into a coherent dish.  Certainly some of the dishes turn out a lot better than others, but it is always a fun experiment.  Before we went away on vacation, I was cooking like crazy to use everything in the refrigerator up.  In this case, I had new potatoes, garlic scapes (the green flower shoot from the garlic), green onions, parsley, and lots of eggs.  I settled on a “hash” sort of thing and I was not disappointed.  I love putting a slight twist on a very traditional approach and it was a delicious vegetarian entree.  I served it with sauteed snow peas and a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

You should definitely add a hash like this to your weeknight cooking repertoire — it is super flexible, quick, healthy, and uses up lots of odds and ends.  And the kids really loved it too… Feel free to spice it up if your crew is spice tolerant.

Curried Chick Pea and Red Potato Hash

Serves 4-6

1 qt. of red potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 garlic scapes (could substitute with 1 or 2 chopped garlic cloves), chopped
4 green onions, green and white parts chopped
2 t fresh ginger, chopped
3 T olive oil
1 t curry powder
1/2 t garam masala (a spice mixture generally made of cumin, cardamom, coriander, cloves, cinnamon, pepper)
1/4 t turmeric
1 t salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 can of chick peas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup of water
2 T parsley or cilantro, chopped
4-6 eggs

1.  Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Saute the white part of the chopped green onions, garlic scapes, ginger, 1/2 t of curry powder, garam masala, turmeric, 1/2 t of salt, and freshly ground pepper for about five minutes.

2.  Add in chopped potatoes and cook for about 10-15 minutes until potatoes are beginning to brown and soften.  Add more oil if the potatoes stick too much.

3.  Add in chick peas and 1/2 cup of water and scrape up any browned bits sticking to bottom of pan.   Cover with lid and let cook about 10 more minutes until potatoes are fully cooked.

4. Meanwhile, in a separate pan fry or poach eggs.  (Best cooked over easy with a nice runny yolk…)

5.  When ready to serve, add to hash pan the additional 1/2 t of salt (or to taste), freshly ground pepper to taste, 1/2 t of curry powder, the green parts of the green onions, and 2 T of parsley or cilantro.  Mix well to incorporate.

6.  To serve, place a fried or poached egg on top of a portion of the curried chick pea and potato hash and garnish with additional herbs or green onions.