Food and Travel & Food and Travel
Creamy golden coconut curry full of chickpeas and wilted spinach in a cream bowl, rice softly out of focus behind
main IndianSouth Asian vegetarianvegandairy-freegluten-freenut-free

Chickpea coconut curry

Creamy golden curry built on chickpeas, coconut milk, and tomato, with spinach stirred through at the end. A pantry dinner that does not taste like one.

Prep15 min
Cook30 min
Servings4
Cook mode

Ingredients

Written for a 4 L pot

Units
Servings
4

Base

  • 30 ml neutral oil
  • 200 g onion, finely chopped
  • 4 garlic, minced
  • 20 g fresh ginger, grated

Spices

  • 8 g ground cumin
  • 6 g ground coriander
  • 4 g ground turmeric
  • 2 g chile flakes (optional)

The body of it

  • 480 g cooked chickpeas, two drained tins
  • 400 ml coconut milk, full fat
  • 400 g chopped tomatoes
  • 150 g spinach, fresh or frozen
  • 6 g fine salt
  • 15 ml lime juice

Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.

Method

  1. Warm the oil in a wide pot over medium heat. Cook the onion with a pinch of salt for 8 to 10 minutes, until soft and just starting to colour.
  2. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a minute, until you can smell them.
  3. Add all the ground spices and stir for 30 to 45 seconds. They need to hit the oil to open up, but they burn quickly, so keep them moving and go straight to the next step.
  4. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring, until the mixture darkens and thickens slightly.
  5. Add the chickpeas and coconut milk. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, until it has thickened enough that a spoon leaves a brief trail.
  6. Stir in the spinach and cook for 2 minutes, until wilted.
  7. Off the heat, add the lime juice and the rest of the salt. Taste. It usually wants more of both.

Notes

  • Crush about a quarter of the chickpeas against the side of the pot before adding the coconut milk. They thicken the sauce and make it feel like it simmered far longer.
  • The lime at the end is not a garnish. Without it the curry tastes flat and you will not be able to say why.
  • Freezes well. Add the spinach fresh when reheating rather than freezing it in.
  • Serve with rice, or flatbread, or on its own in a bowl.

Good with

From Christoph Mayer

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