Our family eats vegetables and fruit everyday but we try to do a Meatless Monday every week. Trying to deplete the fridge and pantry before going to the grocery, we were happy to see that we could go meatless today. I pulled out a couple cans of chickpeas, some green beans and some left over naan and roti from last week’s meal. I grabbed the curry powder and the black pepper – black pepper helps our bodies absorb the curcumen in turmeric – and of course I took some Himalayan salt from the pantry as well.

  

    

Open the can of beans, drain and rinse –

   

Wash your green beans, cut the tips off and blanch them in boiling water for no more than 4 minutes. Drain and set aside.

     

Chop up the onions and garlic. A tip on garlic – to get the skin off place in a bowl (stainless steel or glass), place a plate on top of the bowl and shake the crap out of the garlic. The skin falls off and you have nice smooth ready to cut up and cook cloves of garlic.

   

We have vegan butter at the moment and I melted it in a large saucepan. Add the onions and garlic and allow them to sweat.

       

When the onions and garlic start to turn a soft yellow (you can also tell by the glorious smell when they are ready), add the curry paste. and mix it in then add the chickpeas and stir so that all peas are coated with curry.

     

Let the chickpeas simmer for a minute add black pepper and salt, then cover, reduce heat and simmer for another 15 minutes. If you find there is not enough liquid in the saucepan, add a little water. Closing the lid will allow for condensation and therefore the peas wont dry out and burn.

    

   

Next, cook the beans. I like to give these a garlicky flavor, so I used the vegan butter and added some garlic salt and a bit of fresh chopped garlic.

      

Melt the garlic butter in a smaller frying pan, and on high heat cook the beans, tossing and constantly moving them for about 3 to 5 minutes. By the time the beans are cooked, the meal is ready to be served. Remember I warmed left over naan and roti skins to serve with the meal however you could do a side of rice if you wanted to or serve with fresh vegetables like cucumbers and carrots or whatever you fancy.

This is the meal we had for lunch today – meatless, vegetarian and delicious. Cook what you have at home during this time of social distancing and isolation. When your supplies run low, go out and replenish but only then. I am typing this up trying to distract myself but it’s hard. The news is on and there is a plea that will soon be an order for all over 70 to stay home. When I was out getting supplies the other day, 90% of the people out and about were old buggers. Why can’t people place orders? Get delivery service? Why are some people and in my community old people so bloody stubborn?  Our community has no reported cases of this virus. We need to keep it that way. Everyone is pointing the finger at young people but I am going to point the finger at stubborn old people too including my in-laws. Compromised as hell but still doing what they want to do. If you contract this virus and you get it severely, you will die and you will have to know going in whether you want to be kept comfortable with morphine or whether at your elderly age, do you want to be flogged until you die by being placed on a ventilator for 3 weeks. You will not survive and you will die alone. Please STAY HOME. It is the right thing to do.