Vegan pumpkin chickpea curry with Indian spices
A creamy, simple one-pot vegan meal and it freezes well
Servings 4
Calories 360kcal
Cost £5.00 (see *note 1)
Equipment
- 1 saucepan
Ingredients
Essential
- 1 medium pumpkin (around 4- 5 cups)
- 1 cup dried chickpeas (or 1 tin cooked chickpeas)
- 1 medium onion (yellow or red onion)
- 1 tin tomatoes (plum or chopped tinned tomatoes)
- 1 tin full-fat coconut milk (you can use the light one if you prefer)
- 4 garlic cloves (soak the garlic in cold water for a few minutes, so its skin is easier to be peeled off)
- 4 tsp ginger (use ginger powder if you don’t have fresh ginger)
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder (rub it onto the pumpkin chunks)
- 1½ tsp coriander powder (rub ½ tsp onto the pumpkin chunks)
- 1 tsp mustard seeds (yellow, black or brown mustard seeds)
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 2-3 tbsp cooking oil
Optional
- 1 medium courgettes
- 3-4 curry leaves (curry leaves give a nutty flavour)
- 2 tbsp fresh herbs, such as coriander, basil, or spring onion
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper (or red pepper flakes if you like your dish to be spicier)
Instructions
The day before
- Prepare the pumpkin, i.e. cut it in half and chop it into chunks. See the steps above.
- Soak the dried chickpeas in cold water. Skip this step if you plan to use tinned chickpeas.
On the day
- Drip some cooking oil and rub cinnamon, coriander powder and a bit of salt onto the pumpkin chunks. Roast them in the oven at 180C for 20 minutes. See *note 2.
- Meanwhile, drain the water from the dried chickpeas. Then cover them with a few inches of fresh water in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and cook on low heat for 20 minutes. Skip this step if you're going to use tinned/cooked chickpeas.
- Save the chickpea water for making a vegan mayo (optional).
- Finely chop the onion and grate the garlic and ginger.
- Line up the bunch of fresh coriander and chop off the stalk part. The stalk part will be cooked first and the leaves will be added to the cooking much later.
- Cut the courgettes into chunks (if you're using).
- Gather the rest of the ingredients, including the spices you're using.
- Heat the oil in the saucepan and add mustard seeds before the oil gets too hot. See *note 3.
- Add chopped onions, and fry until the onion is soft.
- Add the pumpkin pulp, and mix it with the onion.
- Add garlic, ginger and coriander stalks.
- Add plum tomatoes and break them up in the pan.
- Add coriander powder, cumin, turmeric, curry powder, curry leaves and cayenne pepper and mix them well.
- Add the courgettes chunks (if you're using them).
- Add the roasted pumpkins. See *note 4.
- Add coconut milk.
- Turn the heat up. Once the liquid starts boiling in the pan, add chickpeas, some salt and pepper and set the heat at mid-low. Put the lid on and let it cook for another 25 - 30 minutes until the pumpkin and chickpeas are soft.
- Add coriander leaves and taste the dish before serving.
Video
Notes
*note 1: I grow courgettes and pumpkins in my garden. So it’s completely free! If you never grow courgettes, you should try them because they’re so easy to grow and a very productive crop, too!
*note 2: This step is optional. You can roast the pumpkin while cooking something else, such as a pizza, or chips, in the oven. The roasting part can even be done the day before.
*note 3: Don't add too many mustard seeds because they can be bitter if there're too many. Also, never cook mustard seeds without hearing if they pop. Because once they pop, they'll get bitter. So you should never cook them alone at high heat.
*note 4: If you didn't roast the pumpkins, then add them together with the pumpkin pulp.