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Easy Chickpea and Vegetable Curry with Quinoa - made with coconut milk, spinach, basil, and mushrooms. The delicious curry is made with coconut milk, red curry paste, tomato paste, brown sugar, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and chili powder. Meatless, vegetarian, gluten free recipe.
I've been craving for a simple vegetarian dinner that I could just whip up in the matter of 30 minutes, and so this very simple chickpea vegetable curry recipe with quinoa was born. Let not the simplicity of this dish fool you, though: it is still a very filling veggie dish, and it rightfully deserves to be called a main course. You won't go hungry after enjoying curry flavors, chickpeas, mushrooms, and spinach in a creamy coconut broth, on top of protein-rich quinoa.
By the way, my other meatless coconut curry favorites are these two: pumpkin, coconut and peanut butter curry and vegetarian pumpkin curry with chickpeas. They are as delicious as this chickpea and vegetable curry with spinach and mushrooms:
How to make chickpea and vegetable curry
- First, add coconut milk to a large skillet and bring to boil. Add the following ingredients: chickpeas, red curry paste, tomato paste, brown sugar, lemon juice, chili powder, basil. Stir until smooth.
- Next, add spinach, chopped green onions and sliced mushrooms to the skillet with the coconut milk mixture, bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until mushrooms are cooked.
How to cook quinoa
- For each 1 cup of uncooked quinoa, use 2 cups of water and ¼ teaspoon of salt.
- Add uncooked quinoa, salt and water to a large sauce pan.
- Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook until all liquid is absorbed and quinoa is cooked and fluffy, about 15-20 minutes.
Recipe notes
- If you like your coconut curry a bit runny, add a little bit of water in the end to reach the desired consistency.
- If reheating the next day, you will likely have to add a touch of water to the coconut curry as it will thicken overnight in the refrigerator.
- To serve, place a scoop of quinoa into the middle of each plate. Top with chickpea and vegetable curry.
Easy chickpea and vegetable curry with quinoa
Ingredients
Chickpea Vegetable Curry
- 13.5 oz coconut milk from the can (400 mL)
- 15 oz chick peas , from the can
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste
- 1 teaspoon red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ¼ lemon , squeezed
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon basil
- 6 oz spinach , cleaned
- 4 green onions , chopped
- 2 cups mushrooms , sliced
- salt to taste
Quinoa
- 1 cup quinoa , uncooked
- 2 cups water
Instructions
How to make chickpea vegetable coconut curry
- Heat coconut milk in a large pan until it boils and reduce heat to simmer. Add next 7 ingredients to the coconut milk: chickpeas, red curry paste, tomato paste, brown sugar, lemon juice, chili powder, basil. Mix everything together until even consistency.
- Add spinach, chopped green onions and sliced mushrooms to the coconut milk mixture, bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until mushrooms are cooked, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste.
How to cook quinoa
- In a separate pan, combine 2 cups of water and 1 cup of quinoa. Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook until all liquid is absorbed and quinoa is cooked and fluffy.
- To serve, place a scoop of quinoa into the middle of each plate. Top with chickpea curry.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Would it be okay to use a yellow curry powder instead of a red paste?
I don't think yellow curry powder will work - it has a very different flavor and even a different color. Personally, I think yellow curry powder has a very strong and a very specific flavor which doesn't go that well with coconut milk.
Question! Would you freeze a portion of this if you made too much?
I tried it tonight and it was sublime! However, there's still a big chunk left and I also pre-cooked some other things for the rest of the week but I'm not sure if it would be advisable to freeze some of this dish for a later "fast food" frenzy.....
Thanks anyway, for this recipe 🙂
I have not frozen this, but I think it will be OK if frozen. The only thing I would be worried about here is coconut milk and quick internet search just revealed to me that people freeze coconut milk all the time with great results, so this recipe should be OK!
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/556053
Thanks! I put a portion into the freezer to test if it works or not.
Also did a quick google search and saw that many people freeze curries with or without coconut milk. Entirely new to this. Just started to prepare meals ahead as my job will require a few extremely busy months.
Will let you know about the result once I deforst it.
Great! Would love to know.
Made this tonight and we LOVED it! Even my 18 month old gobbled it up 🙂 I can't wait to make it again!
Oh mine, even an 18-month-old ate it! 🙂 That's the definition of success! 🙂 Thank you for your sweet comments, and I am very glad you enjoyed this recipe as well (in addition to pumpkin curry)
I just made this and love it. I will, definitely, be making this again and again. Thanks, Julia!
Thank you, Jennifer! It makes me very happy to read comments like yours! 🙂
Our daughter made this tonight for her boyfriend and my husband and I had a taste....WOW was it ever GOOD! Asked my daughter to send me the recipe so I can make this for dinner. Thank you very much!
Janet, so glad your family liked it! And thanks for stopping by! 🙂
How many ounces of coconut milk is needed? am I missing it. Did not see how much.
Mike, here is how much coconut milk I used - 13.5 fl oz (400 mL) - a whole standard size can.
Made this for dinner tonight! It was delicious! and filling! Next time I'll add a lot more chili powder though, I love spicy :p
Lexi, so glad to hear you liked this recipe! I love anything with chickpeas! I actually like it much spicier as well and often up the amount of chili powder I use! 🙂
I'm anxiously waiting to enjoy my creation of this recipe but the quinoa is taking FOREVER!!! Are you sure that it is 4 cups of water and 1 cup of quinoa?? It's been simmering for nearly an hour and has the consistency if runny porridge 🙁
Hi Stephanie, I am not sure why I put 4 cups of water to 1 cup of quinoa here. It's definitely too much water (unless you boil the quinoa all the way, without simmering). It should be about 2 cups of water to 1 cup quinoa. Sorry for your runny porridge 🙁 - I will update the recipe :).
Love this idea of using red curry with chickpeas (my favorite bean).
Yes, I love chickpeas a lot and plan to do more recipes with them.
Thanks for this recipe Julia, the top image is awesome, amazing presentation. I'm gonna try this today, bet my plate doesn't look anywhere as neat as yours haha. Quinoa will be a first for me so looking forward to trying it. I might leave out the sugar though as we're on a pretty strict diet. Will the dish be greatly affected if I do this?
Mine didn't turn out as pretty as yours - I uploaded a pic to the blog. It may not have been as aesthetically pleasing, but by golly did it taste good! Thanks again for the awesome recipe. I had great fun making this.
Well, I just checked your blog post with your photo - yours came out exactly like mine did! It looks great. I like how runny it is on your photo, which is, I forgot, what I did to mine, too, after I took the photos.
I add sugar to compensate for sourness and tartness of tomato paste and lemon juice, but if you're on no-sugar diet, omitting it won't affect the flavor that much.
This is certainly a vegetarian dish I look forward to eating! I love every single ingredient in this recipe. Except for the mushroom, I even have everything in my pantry and fridge right now.
Hey, that pan looks familiar! I use the same one for my quinoa :).
The smell of curry makes me feel at home for some reason... The only thing is it makes everything I'm wearing smell like it for about a day too. What kind of curry paste are you using? Where might we find some? Looks great Julia!
Love, love, love the ingredients in this! And I've become an absoulte fanatic about cooking with quinoa. It turns out great everytime. Unlike rice, which I have a habit of turning to mush.
Delia Smith has the best method for cooking rice. My Mum's got a cook book of hers from way back. Its the only recipe I've ever used cos it works every time. Use twice as much boiling water as you have rice, put a lid on it and simmer for about 10 mins, until the water has been absorbed (depends if you're cooking long grain or basmati). This is white rice. Brown rice I'm not so confident with. The Delia recipe can be found
here
I rinse my rice 3 times before I cook it and I find it doesn't go mushy, this how my mother always cooked it. Makes perfect rice every time. Use twice as much water as rice and bring the water to a boil before you put the rice in. Cover and turn the heat down to low. Cook until all wanted is absorbed.
Some of my favorite veggies and chickpeas in a creamy coconut broth?? Sounds amazing! I'm still not sold on quinoa but with something like this on top maybe I'll come around : )
Julia: I am drooling just thinking about the creaminess and aroma of this curry. It looks fantastic!