Quick and Easy Vegan Chickpea Curry

A tasty vegan chickpea curry that is sure to become a staple in your home, and a crowd-pleaser for entertaining.

This recipe kind of has a special place in my heart 😊

When I was still a new vegetarian, in roughly 2012 or so, I was just as confused as everyone else about what to eat.

New to vegetarianism/veganism? I feel ya…

New vegans or vegetarians will know exactly what I’m talking about, and even seasoned vegans will remember their first few months of cutting out animal products as a big learning curve!

It is quite difficult to frame your thinking in such a way that is anti everything your culture has imprinted in you with regards to food, literally from birth. So to think of a meal or recipe that takes out carnivore ‘staples’ is quite foreign and, with the exception of Fry’s frozen convenience foods, I had very little clue what a balanced vegetarian meal should consist of (vegan came a year or 2 later for me).

Enter = this recipe 😀

I found it online and decided to give it a try, and was damn pleasantly surprised!

This is flavourful, rich, savoury, and satisfying, warming, comforting, and healthy – all you could want from a bowl of nourishing food!

‘Kickboxing classes? That sounds great’ was what Ian said, but did not, in fact mean…

It very soon became a staple for me, and I would often make it for when my boyfriend came around after work. I still lived at home with my parents at the time, and Ian and I were about a year or 2 in to our relationship.

On my insistence we took up kickboxing classes together with a local MMA instructor, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it (maybe me more than Ian … I’m having memories of him whincing, one eye closed, while I pounded away at the mitts he held as far out from his face as possible, bending over slightly in a feeble attempt to protect any sensitive bits 🤣).

He would pick me up straight after work, and then we would go back to my house where the curry which I had made earlier was waiting.

This recipe was really a hit. It is also so versatile, and great for food prep as it is easy to double up quantities and make a big pot which you can eat from for a few days.

If you are watching your macronutrients, like me, you can substitute the potatoes for pretty much anything. I used a mix of potato and cauliflower in the curry I photographed, but I have successfully used sweet potato and butternut as well. I would probably just use cauliflower and perhaps brocolli, and then serve it with rice, to keep it a bit more balanced and not so heavy on the carbs. But, potatoes! Who doesn’t love them?! (If you say ‘me’, we can’t be friends).

If you experiment with different vegetables and come up with something great I would love to know – leave me a comment and let me know how it goes.

I hope you are as pleasantly surprised with this recipe as I was – enjoy!

Easy Vegan Chickpea Curry

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Recipe by Catherine Stevenson Course: DinnerCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

25

minutes

Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients, this recipe is simple and full of flavour.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbs Flora vegan margarine, or vegetable oil of choice.

• 1 onion, chopped

• 3 cloves garlic, crushed

• 3 tsp curry powder

• 2 tsp garam masala

• 1/2 tsp ground paprika

• 1/2 tsp sugar

• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp pepper

• 1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained, or 250g home-cooked chickpeas

• 2 potatoes, cubed *see note

• 1 x 400 ml tin coconut milk (lite/reduced fat if preferred)

• 1 large tomato, chopped

• 75ml plant-based milk (I used soya)

• 2 Tbs tomato paste

• 2 Tbs plain vegan yoghurt, I used and would recommend coconut yoghurt *see note

• 1 vegan chicken stock cube (Imana)

• 1-2 Tbs of cornflour, if needed, to thicken

• fresh coriander, chutney, sambals, basmati rice, to serve

Directions

• Melt the butter or heat the oil in a large saucepan. Use water if oil-free is preferred.
• Saute the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes until it starts to soften.
• Add the curry powder, garam masala, paprika, sugar, ginger, turmeric, salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes until the spices become fragrant.
• Add the chickpeas, potatoes, coconut milk, tomato, plant-based milk, tomato paste, and stock cube and stir well.
• Simmer over medium-low heat with lid ajar for about 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through.
• If you feel the curry is not thick enough for your liking, you can add 1 Tbs cornflour to a small amount of water, stir, and mix it into the curry sauce. I have not found this necessary though.
• Add the coconut yoghurt, mix through and serve. My suggestions are to serve with fresh coriander, sambals, chutney, and basmati rice. Drizzle more coconut yoghurt over the top before serving.

Notes

• * I have found any vegetable really works here instead of potato. I have tried with sweet potato, butternut, as well as cauliflower. The recipe is quite customizable, and any combination would probably work. In the recipe pictured I used a combination of potato and cauliflower.
• * I found coconut yoghurt at Woolworths. Here is a link to the product.
• If you can’t get hold of any plain vegan yoghurt, I am fairly sure that it would still turn out great without it.
• Adapted slightly from this recipe.