Coconut chickpea curry
Creamy, gently spiced and mostly hands-off, this curry turns two cans of chickpeas into something you’ll want again next week.
- 50 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.84 a serving
- 790 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups basmati rice
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 can coconut milk, shaken well
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 1 lime
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 2¼ cups water
- 1½ tsp salt, divided
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp ground cumin
Each serving has about 790 calories, 23 g protein, 106 g carbs and 32 g fat, and costs about $2.84 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No basmati rice? Jasmine rice or long-grain white rice works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No coconut milk? Light coconut milk works.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion, the garlic and the ginger, then set them by the stove before you turn anything on.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Grate. Grating means rubbing food across the holes of a grater to make fine shreds or flakes. It spreads cheese, garlic or ginger evenly through a dish so it melts right in.
How you’ll know: Even shreds fall off the back of the grater, and you stop while the piece is still big enough to hold.
Dolly’s tip: Scrape the peel off the ginger with the edge of a spoon. It’s faster than a peeler and wastes less.Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and of salt and cook, stirring now and then, until soft and , 6 to 8 minutes.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Translucent. Translucent means onions have cooked until they turn from white to slightly see-through. It shows they’re soft and sweet but haven’t started to brown.
How you’ll know: The onion looks glossy and a little see-through, bends easily, and has barely any color.
Medium heatTimer: 7 min
Stir in the garlic, ginger, curry powder, cumin and tomato paste. Cook for 1 minute, stirring, and the paste darkens a shade.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heat
Dolly’s tip: This minute is where the flavor comes from. Keep everything moving so the spices don’t scorch.Pour in the coconut milk and diced tomatoes, add the chickpeas and 1 teaspoon salt, stir, and .
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium-high heat
to low and , stirring now and then, until the sauce a little, about 20 minutes.
Reduce the heat. It means turning the burner down, usually to medium-low or low, so food cooks gently instead of hard. Electric burners cool slowly, so lift the pan off for a moment if it’s bubbling hard.
How you’ll know: Within a minute the bubbling calms to a gentle simmer, or the sizzle turns quiet.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Low heatTimer: 20 min
Dolly’s tip: Small, lazy bubbles are what you want. If it’s spitting at you, turn it down a notch.While the curry cooks, the rice in a strainer and add it to a medium with the water and ½ teaspoon salt. over high heat.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Stir the rice once, cover, and to low. Cook 15 minutes, then take it off the heat and let it sit, covered, for 5 minutes.
Reduce the heat. It means turning the burner down, usually to medium-low or low, so food cooks gently instead of hard. Electric burners cool slowly, so lift the pan off for a moment if it’s bubbling hard.
How you’ll know: Within a minute the bubbling calms to a gentle simmer, or the sizzle turns quiet.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Dolly’s tip: Leave the lid alone the whole time. The trapped steam is doing the work.Stir the spinach into the curry a handful at a time until it , then squeeze in the juice of half the lime.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Low heat
Taste and add salt if it seems flat. Fluff the rice with a fork, spoon it into bowls, ladle the curry over, and top with cilantro and lime wedges.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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