Chickpea and Veggie Curry

March has been CRAZY! I think this month has been the least I’ve blogged since I got started with The Garlic Diaries. So much has been going on lately, and I was planning on blogging ahead enough so that I would still be posting every other day, but I totally lost track of life and just got behind!

It felt great to get back into the swing of things today and make/photograph a few recipes. Hopefully I will be able to stay on top of my game for the rest of March and catch up a little ;).

This Chickpea and Veggie Curry was such a perfect recipe to start back up on. Do you ever try to create a recipe and just feel like you are taking a shot in the dark? I have barely any experience with curries or Indian food, but I decided to attempt and branch out a little.

It turned out SO much better than I thought it would. I am absolutely in love with this recipe. It is probably one of my all time favorites that I have posted since I started this blog. You have to try it…you just have to.

The flavors in this dish are just overwhelmingly amazing…they are so complex and delicious.

The weird thing is, I usually HATE the flavor of curry. I will never order it in a restaurant – something about it just tastes very strange to me. However, there was one time in college that Seth and I made a curry using a homemade spice mix rather than using curry paste, and we absolutely loved it. So that’s what I decided to try out here. There is no curry paste, but there is a lot of curry powder. I adapted Alton Brown’s Curry Powder Blend recipe, and, lets be honest…it doesn’t get any better than my man Alton. He is my go-to for anything technical.

So apart from the fact that this curry is ridiculously mouthwatering, it’s also SO easy!

Apart from the prep work of chopping a TON of vegetables, the rest of the recipe is basically just letting everything stew together for thirty minutes. It’s seriously crazy that such little work can end in such a flavorful, amazing dish.

Can you tell I am excited about this curry? I am…it is yummy.

It’s also super healthy for you! There are so many vegetables packed in there.

Look at all those babies! They all stew together to form the most perfect bite.

This is also one of the most gorgeous dishes I have ever made. If you can believe it, this curry looks even more delicious in person than in these pictures.

The turmeric gives it a beautiful yellow-orange color.

I suggest serving the curry over a bed of rice (I used Basmati), but you can put it over just about anything (or eat it plain!) and it will be perfect. Not to mention a huge crowd pleaser!

Here is the recipe:

Chickpea and Veggie Curry

• Author: Annie Chesson
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 55 mins
• Yield: 5 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 head broccoli
• 1 red pepper
• 1 zucchini
• 1 yellow squash
• 1 shallot
• 5–10 Brussels sprouts (depending on preference – I used 7)
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1 lime, plus extra for garnish
• 2 15 oz cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• 1 13 oz can light coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons tomato paste
• 10 basil leaves
• 10 mint leaves
• 1/4 cup veggie stock (or chicken if you aren’t making this vegan)
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil (or olive oil if you don’t have coconut)
• For the curry powder spice mix:
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• A few pinches of cayenne

Instructions

1. Start by chopping all your veggies: chop the broccoli into small florets, dice the pepper into one inch pieces, slice the squash and zucchini into one inch sticks, thinly slice the shallot, cut off the bottoms of the Brussels sprouts and quarter them, and mince the garlic
2. Heat a large pot over medium heat with one tablespoon of coconut oil
3. Open your cans of chickpeas and drain the liquid
4. When the pot is hot, add in both cans of chickpeas
5. To the chickpeas, add 1 tablespoon of your curry spice blend along with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
6. Stir everything together and cook for about 3 minutes
7. Transfer the chickpeas to a bowl and set aside
8. Heat the last 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in the pot and add all your vegetables
9. Stir the vegetables around, and add the rest of the curry powder along with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper
10. Add the stock (veggie or chicken) into your pan and scrape off any bits that have stuck to the bottom
11. Cook the vegetables for about 5 minutes, stirring often
12. Add the chickpeas back in with the vegetables, and stir in the tomato paste and coconut milk
13. Bring the mixture to a boil
14. Cover and reduce to a simmer
15. Let this cook for 30 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes
16. Remove from the heat stir in the juice from one lime, and season to taste with salt and pepper
17. Garnish with sliced basil and mint leaves and extra lime wedges
18. I suggest serving this over Basmati rice

*Gluten Free and Vegan*

If you make this or any of my other recipes, make sure to Instagram it and hashtag #thegarlicdiaries!