This Sweet Potato and Chickpea Curry recipe is an irresistible healthy dinner! It contains delicious coconut milk and Thai curry paste.
As far as healthy recipes go, here’s a plant-based dinner that’s just as filling as a margherita pizza or chili cheese fries (we think). try that Sweet Potato Curry! Tender sweet potatoes and peppers swim in a delicious broth of coconut milk and Thai curry paste, garnished with fresh coriander and crunchy peanuts. There are so many flavors you’ll want to take another bite before you’ve enjoyed the first one. Welcome to: your soul mate for an easy weeknight dinner!
The origin of the curry
What is the origin of a curry? The word “curry” is a Western invention to misdescribe the nuance of what the colonizers observed in foreign cuisines (see Bon Appetit). Today the term is quite broad: it describes any dish with hot sauce and meat or vegetables, often eaten with rice or flatbread. It is made in many countries with different flavor profiles including India, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria, England and many more.
This recipe is loosely based on a Thai or South Asian style red curry with red curry paste and coconut milk. After traveling through Southeast Asia, we fell in love with the flavors of ginger, garlic, galangal, lime and lemongrass. Sweet potatoes and chickpeas aren’t traditional ingredients in this style of curry (although pumpkin is); it is therefore a non-traditional version of the concept.
Ingredients for this sweet potato curry recipe
This Sweet Potato Curry is a fantastic easy dinner recipe that adds an irresistibly rich and nuanced flavor to veggies. The broth uses the curry paste acronym to add massive flavor to each bite. Here’s what you need to have on hand:
- sweet potato: Find medium-sized orange sweet potatoes
- yellow onion
- pepper
- Garlic
- spinach
- Red curry paste: We love the Thai Kitchen brand because it’s tasty but not too spicy! See below for more information
- coconut milk: Use only whole or regular foods here for proper fullness and body
- peanut butter
- lime juice (Optional)
- olive oil
Red curry paste: what you need to know
Red curry paste is an acronym for Western cooking, not an authentic ingredient: it’s a paste in a jar that captures and concentrates all the flavor of a Thai curry! Curry paste is made from chili peppers, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, cumin, coriander, etc. It packs a tremendous amount of flavor and will keep in the fridge for months. A few notes about this ingredient:
- The heat level varies by brand. We love Thai cooking curry paste because it’s very mild (and works for our 4 year old!). There are many great brands to try: just taste your curry paste and if it’s very spicy use a little less than the recipe says.
- Find it in most grocery stores near Thai produce. It keeps for months in the fridge. You can also buy it online: Red curry paste from Thai cuisine.
Ways to serve sweet potato curry
This sweet potato curry is a South Asian-style curry, so it’s best served with rice. (Reserve the naan for an Indian curry.) This makes for a vegan and gluten-free dinner that’s packed with flavor. Here are the best types of rice to go with it:
More curry recipes
We could have curry every night of the week! Here are some tastier curry recipes:
This Sweet Potato Curry Recipe is…
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.
The description
This Sweet Potato and Chickpea Curry recipe is an irresistible healthy dinner! It contains delicious coconut milk and Thai curry paste.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes (approx 1 1/2 pounds), unpeeled or peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 2 Garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 red peppers, cut into thin strips
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 15– ounces chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 15-ounces of whole coconut milk
- 3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste (we love the Thai Kitchen brand)*
- 1 tbsp peanut butter
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 4 cups Baby spinach or chopped spinach
- ½ tbsp Lime juice to finish (optional)
- Crushed peanuts and shredded fresh cilantro for garnish
- To serve: jasmine rice or basmati rice
- If serving with rice, start with jasmine rice or basmati rice.
- Finely chop the onion, sweet potato, garlic and bell pepper as indicated above.
- In a large skillet, saucepan, or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sweet potato and sauté for 5 minutes until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and paprika and sauté for 1 minute.
- Add chickpeas (drained and rinsed), coconut milk, curry paste, peanut butter, 1 cup water and kosher salt and bring to a boil. Simmer until sweet potatoes are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Add spinach and lime juice and cook until spinach softens, about 1 minute.
- Garnish with crushed peanuts and chopped cilantro. Serve immediately with rice. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Remarks
*The spiciness of red curry pastes varies by brand. The brand we love, Thai Kitchen, is very gentle. Taste your curry paste beforehand and add a little less if you’re worried about the spiciness.
- Category: main course
- Method: Cook
- Kitchen: curry
- Diet: vegan
Keywords: Sweet Potato Curry, Sweet Potato and Chickpea Curry
