Sweet Potato And Chickpea Curry

This sweet potato and chickpea curry was the very first vegan recipe I made. It was also the first time that I ventured into the land of curry. After that first bite it was immediately added to our regular rotation.

My husband loves this recipe and from the moment he smells the curry he gets all excited. It’s one of his favorite meals. I like it for the perfect blend of spicy and sweet.

Vegan Sweet Potato Recipes

Sweet potatoes are one of our favorite vegetables so when we decided to go full on vegan I knew I would need to find a way to use them in all sorts of recipes. While sweet potatoes are great on their own they are fantastic when mixed with spicy or savory spices.

Sweet potatoes are jam packed with all sorts of nutrients that are vital to any diet. They provide loads of Vitamin A which is great for your immune system and eyesight. They are also an excellent source of vitamin C and 1 cup cubed only has 100 calories.

Finally, sweet potatoes are pretty cheap which makes them a cost effective food when you’re on a budget. If you are a on a budget vegan I highly recommend adding sweet potatoes to your regular menu.

Chickpea Nutrition

When it comes to legumes, chickpeas (or garbanzo beans) are my favorite. They work well in most recipes, pick up flavor easily, and are a cheap way to get protein in your meal.

One cup of cooked chickpeas contains 15g of protein. This makes them a fantastic snack or great to be added to your meals. Add them to salads, rice bowls, or mash them to make a paste for wraps.

On a plant based whole food diet you should get enough protein if you are eating enough calories. I personally try to make sure I am adding protein to every meal so I know I am getting enough through the day.

Legumes are extremely important to your vegan diet as they provide loads of nutrients and protein. The best part about legumes are they are a cost effective way to replace all animal products.

I get canned chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, and white beans for about $0.59 a can. Using one can in a meal completely replaces any nutrients I used to get from meat.

When I finally looked at the numbers I realized I didn’t need to eat meat for nutrient because I got better nutrients through plant based foods.

First Experience Cooking Curry

This sweet potato and chickpea curry was the first time that I ever made a curry dish as well. Outside of having curry a couple of times in restaurants I never actually cooked with it.

This made me a bit nervous going in to make this recipe because the expectations were a bit high. I wanted to try to make it taste as good as I remembered. Additionally, my husband loves Indian food so he was my main judge for how close I could get this to taste.

Surprisingly this whole recipe takes less than 30 minutes to make and it turned out fantastic. If you’ve never made a curry dish before I highly recommend this recipe as a starter.

Sweet Potato Curry

Curry is a spicy dish that originated in southeast Asia. While typically there is a meat like chicken in most curry dishes with the rise in popularity of veganism the dish has been adapted with all sort of vegetables.

I chose to use a sweet potato in this curry dish because I love mixing sweet with spicy flavors. The sweet potato is an amazing vegetable to mix with spicy Asian and Mexican flavors.

For this dish I cook the sweet potato in the pan before adding any other flavors. This give the potato time to soften before I add the other ingredients.

Chickpea Curry

When we made the switch from meat eater to vegan I did a lot of research into healthy plant based proteins that we would need to add to our diet. Never being big on legumes it was probably the biggest shock to my system.

It’s extremely common for Vegans to use chickpeas in curry dishes because unlike other legumes chickpeas are great about picking up other flavors. Instead of dulling the flavor of the curry the chickpea enhances the flavor.

Vegan Sweet Potato and Chickpea Curry

Let’s go ahead and dive into the ingredients and the directions to make this vegan sweet potato and chickpea curry.

Ingredients For Sweet Potato Curry

1 15 oz can of chickpeas
1 long or 2 medium sweet potatoes cut into chunks
½ Onion diced
4 garlic cloves minced
½ cup soy milk
½ cup water
1 tbsp curry
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
Fresh ground pepper
Olive oil for cooking
2 cups rice

Directions for Sweet Potato and Chickpea Curry

Start cooking rice of your choice in your Instant Pot.
Put diced potatoes in a large frying pan with oil. Cover and cook on medium high heat stirring often till pressure is reached on your Instant pot or about 10 minutes.
Add Onion to pan cover and let cook 5 minutes.
Add Chickpeas and Garlic to the pan and let cook 5 minutes. While cooking measure out spices into a small dish.
Add spices, soy milk, and water. Turn stove to low and simmer as you wait for rice to natural release in the instant pot or finishes cooking.
Serve curry over rice and enjoy.

Sweet Potato and Chickpea Curry Notes

This recipe makes enough for four people. If you’ve never had curry I will warn you it can be on the warm side of spices. If you have people that have a sensitivity to flavor or spice this may not be a recipe for them.

I personally prefer soy milk over other nut milks though I’m pretty sure you could sub a can of full fat coconut milk in your curry and be just fine. I haven’t tried it so if you do let me know how it turned out.

Overall I am extremely pleased with the way this recipe turned out and have made it 3 times in the past 25 days of being vegan. It’s spicy and sweet, filling, and is a mouth pleaser for sure.

Let me know what you think in the comments below. Follow me on Pinterest for more like this and make sure you pin this to your vegan and dinner recipe boards.

Related Posts:

Facebook

Twitter