Sometimes it is only after your return from a retreat and arrive home to find everything feeling strange, surreal, and yourself out of sync that you realise: A big Shift has happened.

It has taken me this long to, not find ground underneath my feet again, because the ground is an illusion after all, there is no ground. But to make friends with this feeling of moving through an illusion, of an ongoing shifting of shape. And now that things have settled for the time being, I am back and I come bearing a much requested recipe:

Sedona's Favourite: the Green Thai Chickpea Curry!

Hilariously enough, this most requested recipe ~ is also one of the few that doesn't exist. Yes, I made a few things without a recipe for reference, and this is one of them.

Or rather, there exists a recipe that I drew on. But I changed pretty much everything about the original recipe, except the green Thai curry paste, so you can't really say the recipe exists beyond an inspiration, maybe.

Then why make this curry this way, and not according to the recipe?

Because it felt right. When contemplating the menu for the retreat, this one landed with great clarity ~ lots of green, curry, chickpeas, and Thai noodles.

So, perhaps it is not a Thai curry that I cooked. Since I was already tuning in to Sedona and the retreat ~ and cooking at one corner point of the Sedona Stargate ~ maybe it was a Star Being Nation that sent through a spark of inspiration.

Which one do you feel might have been the sender?

And now: onto to recipe!

… though please keep in mind that this was created with the idea of feeding 12 people, and so while I scaled quantities down, they might still be – a lot.

The Green (Sedona) Chickpea Curry

There exist few pictures, because people ran away with their plates before I could take even one. (I barely had time to throw some coriander at them; guess they were hungry?) So have a screenshot of me concentrating on ladling out green yummyness ~ and a slightly blurred close-up from that screenshot:

Here's what you need to make it yourself:

the curry basics:

1 onion

2 – 3 cloves of garlic (or however many you want)

1 good chunk of ginger (how much depends on how much you like ginger, really)

2-3 tablespoons green Thai curry paste (depending on how strongly flavoured – and/or how spicy – the paste is and you want your curry to be)

1 can of coconut milk

coconut oil

salt & pepper to taste (optional)

the greens:

1 green bell pepper

1 small broccoli (or ½ of a big one)

1 small zucchini

1 cup or maybe 100g edamame

several handfuls of (baby) spinach

coriander (optional)

Those are what I used, before I ran out of space in the saucepan. Other options include:

green beans

sweet peas

sugar snap peas / mangetouts

the chickpeas:

1 jar cooked chickpeas

to be served on:

Thai rice noodles

Yes, you can also serve this on rice, of course. Millet might possibly work as well, or white quinoa. Try it out!

Here's how you make it:

1. Wash your veggies and then chop into small(ish) pieces.

2. Finely chop ginger, garlic, and onion.

3. Heat a little oil in a (big) saucepan, then sauté onion until translucent. Add garlic, until things start smelling delicious, then add ginger. Sauté and stir for a bit.

4. Add green curry paste and mix well. Let simmer for a bit.

5. Start adding your chopped veggies. Put the one with the longest cooking time first. If you are using fresh green beans, they go first, because they take forever. I began with the bell pepper, followed first by broccoli, then zucchini

6. Add coconut milk, stir well, and let simmer for a bit.

7. Once veggies begin to soften, add edamame – and if you have room, the chickpeas as well. Mix well, keep simmering gently. If there is no room for chickpeas – add them in step 9.

8. Just before you feel you're done, add as many handfuls of baby spinach leaves as you want, to let them wilt a little. Turn down heat and let settle.

9. Cook Thai noodles according to packaging. They take something like 3 – 5 minutes, so cook quickly. Drain and, if your ran out of space in the saucepan, add a little oil to the empty pot and throw the chickpeas in here, for a bit of gentle roasting.

10. Give your curry a quick taste test ~ depending on how mild the curry paste is, you may need to add some salt and pepper here.

11. Finally, to plate: put a twirl of Thai noddles on a deep plate, ladle your green starseed curry over the noodles, and top with chopped coriander.

12. Enjoy!