Vegan Carrot and Chickpea Curry
Vegan carrot curry, a big-flavoured spicy treat, that combines sweet carrots and earthy chickpeas in an Indian-inspired coconut milk sauce.
This simple vegan curry takes around 10 minutes to prepare and cooks in around 45-50 minutes, and it tastes superb!
Indian Inspired Vegan Vegetable Curry
I love me a good curry; my site is absolutely packed with everything from the ubiquitous chicken tikka masala to lesser-known gems like Malai kofta.
This glorious chickpea and carrot curry joins an ever-growing list of vegan curries, and I love it.
I've got everything from well-known examples like aloo gobi and saag aloo to completely made-up recipes like my spinach and mushroom curry.
This dish dates back to our time growing food in rural Hungary and was born of a glut of carrots.
They are superb in this dish, and they are the real star; they are seared in oil to turn up their natural sweetness to 11.
Then they are joined by onions, garlic, ginger and a host of Indian spices before being simmered in tomatoes and coconut milk with a tin of chickpeas.
It is a gloriously simple dish to make, it's wonderfully frugal, and it tastes "bostin".
If you are on the hunt for more chickpea-based curries, check out my Indian chole chickpea curry, a chana aloo, lentil and chickpea curry, parsnip and chickpea curry and chickpea and sweet potato curry.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use dried chickpeas?
Yes, but they will need to be cooked in advance because there is not enough liquid in this recipe to cook dried chickpeas.
Adding more liquid and cooking the chickpeas will also result in mushy carrots.
You can soak chickpeas overnight and boil them until tender. You can also cook chickpeas without soaking them in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker.
Can I use low-fat or no-fat coconut milk?
I am not a huge fan of low-fat coconut milk; as far as I am concerned, it loses so many of the qualities of its full-fat cousin.
However, it will work in this recipe, so if you feel the need to cut the fat, then go ahead. But this dish will be a little more "watery" in texture and have a less creamy texture.
Can I scale this recipe up?
Yes, I developed this recipe to deal with a HUGE glut of carrots many years ago, and I would make huge pots of it.
I scaled everything linearly, including the spices; just take care to add salt to taste.
If you are going really big you will need to sear the carrots in batches.
Can I make this in advance?
Yes, but it will thicken up even more when cooled and reheated. As a result, you will need to add a little more liquid when you reheat it.
Water would work well, although I usually use some vegetable stock.
Serving Suggestions
I like to serve this carrot and chickpea curry with rice; here I've used a simple coriander rice. It has Mexican influences, but it sits alongside this dish perfectly, let's face it carrot and coriander is a match made in heaven.
But you could just as easily add a pilau rice and keep the vibe much more "Indian".
This dish is very much Indian in influence and curries just don't feel right without some form of flatbread.
I've served it in these pictures with a tandoori-style naan bread, but chapatis would arguably work better with the thick spicy sauce.
A nice dollop of mango chutney would also complement the sweetness of the carrots. Alternatively, some kachumber salad would add a touch of freshness to this hearty dish.
Equipment Used
I only name-check brands of equipment if I think that they make a material difference to a recipe. But, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.
- Hob/stovetop.
- 28cm or 11" frying pan with a lid.
- Stirring and serving spoons.
- Chopping board.
- Kitchen knife.
- Grater.
- A combination of weighing scales, a measuring jug, measuring cups and spoons.
Carrot Curry Recipe with Chickpeas
Ingredients
- 2 Large Carrots 300g
- 1 Small Onion 100g
- 4 Garlic Cloves
- 35 g Ginger 1 Thumb Sized Piece
- 400 g Tin of Chickpeas 14oz
- 225 g Tinned Chopped Tomatoes 8oz
- 200 ml Coconut Milk ¾ Cup + 1 tablespoon
- 1 tablespoon Cooking Oil
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri Chilli Powder
- 1 teaspoon Ground Coriander
- ½ teaspoon Ground Turmeric
- ½ teaspoon Ground Cumin
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- ½ tablespoon Dried Fenugreek Leaves
- ½-¾ teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Top and tail, then peel the carrots and cut them into 2½cm (1") chunks.
- Cut the onion in half, then peel it and cut it into a 3-4mm (⅛") dice.
- Peel the garlic cloves and mash them into a paste with the side of a knife.
- Peel and grate the ginger.
- Drain the chickpeas and give them a rinse.
- Heat a 28cm or 11" frying pan over a high heat, and when it's hot, add the cooking oil. Fry the carrots in this oil for 7-10 minutes; you want them to get a little bit of colour.
- Add the onions, reduce the heat to medium and fry them for 5 minutes until translucent.
- Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 60 seconds.
- Sprinkle over the Kashmiri chilli powder, coriander, turmeric, cumin, black pepper and cinnamon, stir and cook for 30 seconds.
- Pour in the tinned tomatoes, coconut milk, and add the chickpeas, stir to combine, then have a taste and add salt. Add a lid, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes.
- Remove the lid and crush in the fenugreek leaves, stir and cook for another 5-10 minutes to thicken up the sauce, then serve.
This recipe is great, I halved the chilli powder and it was still spicy imo
Unfortunately I couldnt find fenugreek leaves, but I added extra carrots, extra seasoning, and about 2 Tbsps of lemon juice! It turned out fantastic!
Glad you enjoyed it Chelle 🙂
This is a tasty and healthy recipe, good to find a decent curry with carrots as the main ingredient, couldn't find many of those. One note: step 1 in the instructions says 'onions' when it means ' carrots' so be careful there, otherwise you'll end up with an onion curry with no carrots!
Rabbit?
No thank you.
Factory farmed no doubt...
Like other thinking beings, we don't need to eat them.
There are plenty of other good options now.
Your vegan curries are great btw.
I often wonder what people want to achieve when they post comments like this... I'm not vegan or vegetarian and I am perfectly content to eat meat, I come from a family of butchers and have raised meat for the table and as a result, I am fully aware of what is behind the protein on my table.
I create lots of vegetarian and vegan recipes for no other reason than they taste great.
If you wish to promote not eating meat may I suggest that you spend less time writing ridiculous messages to strangers on the internet and invest your time creating recipes that make people want to eat meat free... because whatever your motivation for this comments was, it will not reduce the amount of meat I consume or change the type of recipes that I publish!
Loved this recipe! It was so flavorful.
I didn't have ginger so I used nutmeg and instead of Dried Fenugreek Leaves I used mustard powder.
I doubled the recipe and i'm so happy to have leftovers for the week.
Interesting substitutions, but that's what recipes are for, a launch pad to make your own dinner 🙂 So glad you liked it!
This is an awesome recipe! I'm from one of the southern states of India , who came across this recipe accidentally. Our regional chickpea curry recipe is quite different ,( Variations may occur at every 20km average) some key ingredients are missing while some unthinkable ingredients are added.
Plantain, tapioca, pappaya, beetroot,Chinese potato, are some of the vegetables added ...either alone or a mixture . Plantain + chickpea is my fav combination.
But this recipe was an adventurous experience.
Thankyou!
Hi Zal...
Glad you enjoyed it, my approach to recipes is that you get my food, obviously, there are global influences but I actively try not to replicate the food of others. As a result, you end up with a pretty eclectic group of ingredients and some combinations that culturally are less common, but no less delicious 🙂
Brian
This is delicious!! I upped the garlic and didn't have fenugreek. A huge hit, even with my picky 8 yr old. We devoured a doubled recipe in one sitting. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it, it is a real favourite in our house, my wife cooks it all of the time 🙂
What a beautiful, delicious recipe! My boyfriend is from India and he loved it! I doubled the recipe to use a whole can of tomatoes, coconut milk, and chickpeas. Lots of yummy leftovers! I used rainbow carrots, which were really lovely, but the turmeric stains everything so I'll use orange carrots next time. Thanks for my new favorite recipe!
Great to hear from you Amie... So glad you like the recipe, this wee unassuming curry has become very popular here on my site and in our house in a relatively short period of time! Stoked that you both like it!
Wow! I wanted to learn some curry recipes during lockdown, and had some excess carrots. Looking online I came across this recipe. This is my new favourite site for recipes. I did this in my slow cooker. You could add any veg. I added half the chilli powder because I don't like super spicy food. Really easy and I have already seen lots of other recipes I want to try. Love the no fads/diets approach. Just hearty, honest and wholesome food. The flavours are still tingling on my tongue.
Hey Kathy... Glad to have you around, I'm just a cook really, some of it fancy, some of it simple, some of it quick and some of it slow but I think all of it tasty!
So happy that you enjoyed this recipe, I'm really proud of this one it came out of some experiments when we accidentally grew WAY too many carrots one year, I do a similar thing with sweet potato that works really well.
Enjoy the tingles 🙂
@Kathy, I was just wondering how you adapted this for the slow cooker? I'm pretty new to all this and much prefer my slow cooker whenever I can use it 🙂 thx so much!!
Just in case Kathy does not get this, if I were converting this to a slow cooker recipe I would sear everything off, getting a nice bit of colour on the carrots is the key to unlocking lots of extra flavour in this recipe. Then chuck it all in the slow cooker, I would likely go 3-4 hours on low, you want the carrots cooked but still to have a little texture.
You may need to be mindful of the final texture of the dish so if the sauce is a bit runny maybe reduce it down a little in a hot pan.
@Brian Jones, Thank you so much for your reply!! I appreciate it! Am going to try this today 🙂
You are welcome Antonella.
This was so yummy and so easy! I had everything except coconut milk, so nipped down to the shop to get some. This was a flavourful dish. Thank you.
Glad you like it 🙂
Hi Brian
I made this dish this evening and it was really delicious. My husband who's a real meat eater and not a fan of chick peas is really raving about it. The carrots made it really lovely and sweet.
Thanks for the recipe.
Glad you like it Jane and most importantly glad your husband liked it... Chickpeas can often be a challenge to cook with but treat em well and they work really well.
Love the flavors in this meal! It's such a warm, comforting dish and so perfect for the winter season!
This curry looks so delicious! I have been looking for some new vegan recipes to try so I will definitely be giving this a go!
This sounds so warming and healthy! Perfect for adding extra veg into your diet.
I am not vegetarian or vegan by any means, but I find that Indian food with no products actually tastes better to me. Anyways, this is an awesome looking curry, I always love chickpeas in my curry.
Hi Brian, thank you for the incredible recipe! This dish was delish! When I made this dish, to me it was very sweet. I’m making it again tonight! Can’t resist!
Love the flavors in this meal! It's such a warm, comforting dish and so perfect for the winter season!
Thanks Kim!
This curry looks so delicious! I have been looking for some new vegan recipes to try so I will definitely be giving this a go!
Enjoy, this one takes a while to cook but it super simple!
This sounds so warming and healthy! Perfect for adding extra veg into your diet.
Thanks Cliona
I am not vegetarian or vegan by any means, but I find that Indian food with no products actually tastes better to me. Anyways, this is an awesome looking curry, I always love chickpeas in my curry.
The Indian subcontinent really are past masters at creating insanely good vegan and vegetarian food. Hundreds of years of practice and development really come in handy 😉
Hi Brian, thank you for the incredible recipe! This dish was delish! When I made this dish, to me it was very sweet. I’m making it again tonight! Can’t resist!
You ar welcome!