This recipe for eggplant and chickpea curry is healthy, flavorful, and easy to make. Eggplant and chickpeas are simmered in a fragrant curry sauce made with fresh ginger, garlic, turmeric, and cumin. Serve this curry over rice or quinoa for a complete meal.
What to cook with a glut of aubergines
If you are lucky enough to have more aubergines than you know what to do with or there’s a few lurking in the fridge, then don’t worry, we’ve the perfect recipe for you.
Aubergines work wonderfully in this perfectly spiced curry.
You can serve it as a main course or you can include it as a delicious side dish at an Indian banquet.
Do I use dried chickpeas or tinned chickpeas?
It’s entirely up to you what you decide to cook with.
What may have an impact on your decision is time.
If you’ve a bag of dried chickpeas, you need to remember to soak them in water the night before and then you have to allow cooking time.
With the tinned chickpeas, all of this is done and they come ready to use.
Personally I have the best of both worlds a packet of dried chickpeas for when I’m going to make hummus and then a couple of cans when I need a fast solution.
What can I serve with vegan chickpea and aubergine curry?
There really are so many different vegan dishes to serve with this beautiful curry. Jackfruit curry will offer a different flavour and texture to your meal and is a great choice.
Saag aloo is another tasty vegan side dish that can be successfully paired with aubergine and chickpea curry.
Of course rice is the obvious choice and there are so many different kinds of rice you can make.
Chapatis are a popular flat bread to serve but be careful about serving a naan bread to a vegan as they usually contain dairy products.
And if you’re wondering, yes, poppadum’s are fine to serve to a vegan.
If you are ever in doubt look for the vegan symbol on any packaging or better still, make it yourself and you know exactly what goes into it!
How do you make vegan chickpea and aubergine curry from scratch?
If you follow the different steps below, you shouldn’t have any problems, in fact, this vegan curry recipe is very straightforward and easy to make.
Enjoy your delicious meal!
Recipe notes and tips
- Don’t have any turmeric? Not a problem, check out our substitute for turmeric guide.
Spicy eggplant and chickpea curry recipe
Utensils
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp Vegetable oil
- 2 Aubergines
- 2.5 cms Ginger
- 2 Red onions
- 4 Cloves of garlic
- 1.5 tsp Cumin seeds
- 5 Dried curry leaves
- 1 Red chilli ⅙
- ½ tsp Ground cumin
- 1 tbsp Garam masala
- 1 tbsp Curry powder
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 1 tbsp Brown sugar
- 400 g Chopped tomatoes
- 400 g Cooked chickpeas
- Large handful of coriander
Instructions
- Pre heat your oven to 180°C
- Wash the aubergines and remove the stalk and leaves. Now chop them in half lengthways and then half again. Now chop them into bite sized chunks
- On the baking tray, toss the aubergines in vegetable oil and season. Place them in the oven and then you'll need to cook them for around 20 minutes but don't take them out until they look crispy. It's a fine line though, so if you think they look too dry at any stage then add some more oil
Prepare the vegetables
- Remove the stalk from the chilli and finely chop it, if you don't like too much heat, then remove the seeds
- Peel the ginger, it's easy if you use the back of a teaspoon
- Remove the stalk and end of the onions, peel and finely slice them
Cooking the curry
- Place your pan on a medium heat and then dry fry the cumin seeds, just for a minute or so, you'll start smelling their wonderful aroma and then add 2 tablespoons of oil
- Now add the curry leaves and chilli. Now add the crushed garlic, sliced onions and crushed ginger and cook until the onions have sweated
- Now add into the mix the curry powder, garam masala, ground cumin, sugar and turmeric and give it a good old stir
- Next add in the chopped tomatoes along with the drained chickpeas and then you need to leave it to simmer for approximately 10 minutes. Keep an eye on the consistency as you really want the sauce to be nice and thick and not dry
- By now the aubergines should be nice and crispy and if they are then transfer them into the pan, break up the coriander, tearing it with your fingers and add to the pan and then give a good stir
- Transfer to bowls and serve with some fresh coriander leaves on top
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Please note that nutrient values are estimates only. Variations can occur due to product availability and manner of food preparation. Nutrition may vary based on methods of origin, preparation, freshness of ingredients, and other factors.
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Stuart Luca-Wakefield says
Wow, what a great dish! As a vegan, chickpeas are a staple of my diet. Aubergines, not so much – especially when the other half says they’re rubbery. I cooked the aubergines an extra 10 minutes (with a splash of extra oil after the initial 20 minutes) to make sure they were as soft as could be. I didn’t have all the ingredients, so I improvised on missing curry powder by adding extra cumin, then a good dose of fenugreek, but it all came out being one of the tastiest curries I’ve made in a long, long time.
Mandy from Splash of Taste says
We’re so pleased you enjoyed the curry. Love your substitutions, sounds like they worked a treat! Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback 🙂