Keep the Chickpeas Coming...

Weight Watchers have tweaked their point system again. As a long time member, I have to say I greeted the news with plenty of eye rolls and snark. They 'tweak' it every couple of years. But unless they tell me I can have fourteen glasses of Prosecco and a chippy tea at least three times a week then it's hardly front page news. I remained my cynical self. But then... oh but then...

It's really rather marvellous. Sadly, chippy teas are still relegated to birthdays and holidays but it's not all bad. Instead of weighing and pointing eggs, lentils, chicken breast, fish and chickpeas, we can now all eat as much as we like... for 0 points. Yes! It means by shovelling plenty of those things into my week, I can save my points for actual nice things. Like naan bread, beer, wine and cheese. I can skimp less on the lovely stuff if I pad out my meals with the other stuff. It's fabulous. 

With that in mind, here is my current obsession. My version of several hacked-together curry recipes. Almost offensive in its inauthenticity, it uses loads of the 0 point stuff, so that my daily ration of 23 can be put to good use elsewhere. I have made two vats of this so far, so have a well-stocked freezer of individual portions. I imagine I will tire of it long before they are used up. But still. 

Here's an insight into what I'll be eating most weekdays until Christmas. As regular readers know, Nigella is one of my 'when I'm older I want to be her' women, so here's my attempt at all of that. Humour me.

Have a lovely week, folks.
     

Lovely, Lovely, Tasty Food in a Bowl 
AKA Generic Low Fat Curry
4ish portions

Ingredients

2 x onions
2 x peppers
1 x thumb of ginger
2 x garlic cloves
1 x packet of fresh coriander 
A good shake of ground cumin
 "      "     "      ground coriander
 "      "     "      garam masala
 "      "     "      turmeric
 "      "     "      hot chilli powder
a pinch of ground cinnamon
1 x chicken stock cube
1 x tin of tomatoes 
1 x tin of chickpeas

Optional
2 x chopped chicken breast
1/2 a tin of light coconut milk (8 smart points)

1. Add the chopped onion,
peppers, ginger and
garlic to the pan. Cook till soft.

 

2. Shake in all the dry spices
and coat the softened veg.

 

3. Add the chickpeas, the tinned 
tomatoes, a tinful of 
water and crumble in the
chicken stock cube.

4. Rinse the lentils and add to the pan. Stir
through the mixture.

5. Put the lid on and
simmer till the water
is reduced, and the curry is thicker.

6. Boom. A robust veggie
curry. For your
eating pleasure. 

OPTIONAL EXTRA 1
7. Add diced chicken breast
and simmer until cooked 
through.

  

OPTIONAL EXTRA 2
8. Add half a tin of low fat coconut 
milk. It's 8 points. So 2 per 
portion if you split into 
four. All done!