Peanut Soup....only not really

You know when your expecting one thing, and you get something completely different, how you can't fully appreciate that different thing because you are still longing for the first thing. No....just me then? Well that is what this soup has been like for me. I saw a peanut soup, or stew,...or maybe it was a chili...well anyway, it was on food network, and it looked delicious. It was creamy, spicy and warm, I knew at that instant I must have that soup! However, five to ten instances later I had forgotten about that soup, probably it was pushed to the back of my mind in favor of a cookie or chocolate, as so often happens to me.

But then I saw it again on the menu somewhere "African Peanut Soup", and all of the longing and desire rushed back. Imagine my surprise when the dish served to me was more like a noodle soup with greens and little bits of crushed peanuts on top. It was neither spicy, or creamy, and it re-inspired me to make the peanut soup in my head......that didn't come out sounding as normal as I thought it would. Anyhoo, today I set out to do just that, I got some chickpeas out of the freezer along with some veggie broth....except I didn't have any veggie broth /sigh and I ended up making something else entirely.....so this dish was a journey, that started with desire, and ended up "Chickpeas in a spicy peanut sauce".....it was a good journey filled with ups, downs, and cookies (as all journeys should be), but a long one. So without further ado here is a recipe.

Chickpeas in a Spicy Peanut Sauce

2 tbs Olive oil
1 Onion
5 Garlic cloves minced
1tbs Ginger
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp salt
1 can coconut milk
3 cups chickpeas
1/3 cup peanut butter or sun butter...or cashew butter...mmmmm...I keep wanting to try this recipe with cashew butter.
cayenne to taste

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, add the onions and cook for about four minutes, or until the onions are tender. Add the garlic and ginger, and cook for a minute more. Stir in the next four ingredients and cook a minute more. Lower the heat and stir in the chickpeas and peanut butter until everything is coated with spicy peanut buttery goodness. Then add the coconut milk and simmer covered for about 10 minutes, add cayenne to taste. This satisfied my craving quite well...considering it was not at all what I set out to make.