My Sweet potato chickpea curry recipe is here! I've been making this easy curry for the best part of 13 years. And, all these years later, It is still great curry and an easy meal for the whole family. But it's also one of my easy midweek meals which is even better the next day and we LOVE those! I've also added baby spinach and fresh cilantro / coriander to the recipe this time around so you'll love it even more.
Everything in this recipe is readily available at the grocery store and can be added to your roster of healthy recipes. I've made this for my children, for dinner parties and a pre-Christmas lunch for 12 hungry people. I have a feeling that if you make this sweet potato and chickpea curry once it'll become one of your favourite new recipes.
It can be prepped in 10-15 minutes as a weeknight meal and can be easily incorporated as part of your meal prep.
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Ingredients
I wanted to make this Sweet potato coconut and chickpea curry as tasty as possible. Sweet potato is very tasty on its own but it can also cope with a lot of flavours being added to it. The same goes for chickpeas and coconut. They are robust foods and can cope with big, strong flavours. These spices are also great to buy if you're making a big batch of this curry.
- Sweet potatoes
- Garlic
- Ground cumin or ground cumin seeds
- Ground coriander
- Ground turmeric
- Smoked paprika
- Dried chilli red pepper flakes
- Tamarind paste
- Garam masala
- Red onions
- Groundnut oil or Vegetable oil
- Vegetable stock / Vegetable broth
- Pinch of salt and pepper
- Chick peas
- Can of coconut milk (full-fat coconut milk is my favourite but you can use light coconut milk)
- Cashew nuts
- Fresh spinach / baby spinach
- Soy sauce
- Tofu
- Fresh coriander leaves
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
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Use a heavy bottomed pot like my Le Cruset Dutch Oven.
Don't add colour to the onions when softening them gently.
Don't forget your peeled and cubed Sweet Potatoes.
Serve your sweet potato curry with crusty bread.
Hint: If you prep all your veg and ingredients beforehand you can have this delicious curry simmering on medium heat within ten minutes.
You can watch a video of me making this curry from scratch below...
Substitutions and Variations -
This, like all good curries, is wonderful comfort food and also uses lots of pantry staples. But it's also a great recipe to adapt. It has so much flavor and is such a full recipe that swapping odd ingredients out is perfectly fine.
- Fresh ginger - feel free to add some very finely chopped fresh ginger to the pot when softening the onions. A tablespoon would work very well.
- A large saucepan - you may not have a large dutch oven so feel free to use a large saucepan instead. Just put a dinner plate over it if it doesn't have a lid.
- Lime juice - some freshly squeezed lime juice, added right before serving, works so well with this coconut chickpea curry
- Butternut squash - swap out the sweet potato for butternut squash. Peel and cube it in the same way.
- Serve it with - Naan bread, lime wedges, cauliflower rice, jasmine rice
- Cayenne Pepper - you can swap out the red chilli flakes for cayenne and it's still delicious
Even if your reader doesn't follow a specific diet (eg. gluten free), they may have friends or family that they're cooking for that could use this. This is also a great idea to link out to another blogger with a similar recipe that fits a different diet.
Equipment
Here's a list of the equipment I recommend using for this recipe. I have also included a link where you can purchase anything you'd like to use yourself at home.
Le Cruset Dutch Oven (aka Cosy Pot)
Measuring Spoons
Wooden Spoon
Colander
Measuring Jug
Ladel
Storage
Allow leftovers to cool before placing them in an airtight container and chilling in the fridge. I like to reheat gently on the stove.
Top tip
This curry is even better heated up the day after. So make ahead and enjoy it the following day.
FAQ
You don't have to use it, you can get away with just stock and perhaps some double cream. But do try to add some liquid that will make this delicious creamy curry as it loses something when it's watery.
I wouldn't add anything else if you're not keen on using Coriander. Although, I certainly think it adds an enormous amount to the flavour but only in a very specific way. If I didn't have any Coriander in the cupboard I wouldn't use anything.
More recipes from Cherry...
These are some more of my favourite recipes:
📖 Recipe
Sweet Potato & Chickpea Coconut Curry with Spinach
My Sweet potato chickpea curry recipe is here! I've been making this easy curry for the best part of 13 years. It is an easy meal for the whole family, but it's also one of my easy midweek meals that is even better the next day and we LOVE those!
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1hour 15 mins
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Meal
- Method: Hob
- Cuisine: World
Ingredients
A good glug Groundnut oil or Vegetable oil
x 2 Red onions, peeled and sliced
x 3 cloves Garlic, peeled and finely chopped
x4 medium Sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
x 1 tablespoon Ground cumin
x 1 tablespoon Ground coriander
x 1 tablespoon Ground turmeric
x 1 tablespoon Smoked paprika
x1 heaped teaspoon Dried chilli red pepper flakes
x2 tablespoons Tamarind paste
x1 pint Vegetable stock
Pinch of salt and pepper
x2 tins Chickpeas, drained and rinsed
x1 Can of coconut milk
Cashew nuts
Fresh spinach / baby spinach
Soy sauce
Tofu
Fresh Coriander leaves, finely chopped
Instructions
- Add a good glug of Groundnut Oil to your big pot and heat on the stove.
- Add the chopped red onions and the garlic to the heated oil, get back on to the heat and soften without adding any colour.
- Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, smoked paprika, dried chilli flakes, and tamarind paste to the pot and give it all a good stir.
- Add the sweet potatoes and stir again so that the sweet potatoes become coated in the spicy mixture.
- Add the vegetable stock
- Season with salt and pepper
- Add the chickpeas and stir together well
- Pop the lid of the pot on, leaving a gap for steam to evaporate
- Simmer gently until the sweet potatoes are soft but not mushy
- Add a can of coconut milk and the cashew nuts, give it all a stir
- Place the spinach into the pot and push down on it, submerging it and starting the wilting process
- Pop the pot back on to the heat and cook for a few more minutes
- Finally - add a large dash of soy sauce, the chopped tofu and the chopped coriander. Give it all another good but gentle stir together.
- Serve with hunks of crusty bread or rice.