A good curry is a lovely thing, warming, filling and totally satisfying. This chickpea and lentil curry is all of those things and more! It's vegan, gluten-free and only takes 30 minutes to make. So, perfect for a weeknight dinner or great for a weekend when you want to ditch the takeaway.
Chickpea and Lentil Curry
This curry is packed with goodness, chickpeas, red lentils, spinach and peppers! And because of all the protein, this curry is super satisfying and filling. Warmly spiced with a little kick of heat this is packed with flavour. You've probably heard me say this already but curries are a weekly occurrence in my house. Everyone in my family loves them, and since we went veggie they have become even more popular. This chickpea and lentil curry is one of my favourites, not just because it tastes great but also because it's ready in no time and all I need are store cupboard ingredients!
How To Make Chickpea and Lentil Curry
- Fry: Cook up the onion until it's translucent, add the garlic, ginger and chilli. Then add in the spices, only cook those spices for a minute, any longer and they will burn. Burnt spices will kill your curry!
- Veggies: I use green bell pepper in this curry and finish it off with spinach.
- Liquid: You need some liquid to cook up those lentils and veggies. Tinned chopped tomatoes and vegetable stock are added to the curry. Make sure your vegetable stock is vegan if you want to keep this a vegan dish.
- Legumes: Legumes make this curry, those little seeds of superfood power, we love them! I use chickpeas and red lentils for this curry, ready cooked lentils work well too if you don't have red lentils.
- Simmer: Once everything is in the pan, except for the spinach, then cover that pan with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for 15- 20 minutes. Once it is nice and thick and the lentils are cooked remove the lid then stir in the spinach and you are done!
What to Serve with Chickpea and Lentil Curry
We like basmati rice and some naan with this however brown rice or quinoa is great too. If you fancy making this into a bit of a feast you could also serve some popadom with raita, lime pickle and chutney.
Can I Freeze this Curry?
Yes! You can freeze this, I would freeze this before I add the spinach. It will keep for up to a month in a labelled freezer friendly container. You could divide this up into portion sizes too if you like. Defrost overnight in the fridge, then reheat in a large pan once it is piping hot stir in the spinach.
Variations on Chickpea and Lentil Curry
- Veggies: Add more veggies, you could squeeze more veggies in here, another bell pepper, potatoes are great in this or maybe some mushrooms!
- Spice it up: Want it hotter? Add more chilli pepper or add in half a teaspoon of chilli powder. This curry does have a kick but hey there's always room for more heat!
- Switch it up: You could switch the red lentils for precooked puy lentils, add some coconut cream to make it creamier.
Chickpea and Lentil Curry - Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion (210g) (1 ⅓ cups) chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 medium green chilli pepper pith and seeds removed then very finely chopped
- 1 thumb size piece of ginger, (½ tbsp) skin removed then finely grated
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- 1 medium green bell pepper (capsicum) (190g) (1 cup) pith and seeds removed then roughly chopped
- 1 400g can of chopped tomatoes (2 cups)
- 1 400g cooked chickpeas (1 ½ cups drained)
- 120 g red lentils (⅝ of a cup)
- 200 ml vegetable stock (1 ½ cups)
- The juice of half a medium lemon 2 or 3 tbsp
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp cracked black pepper
- 75 g spinach (2 cups)
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large sauté pan. Add the onion and cook for about 10 minutes, until the onion is translucent.Add the garlic, chilli pepper and ginger, stir well and cook for a minute.Next add the spices, again stir well and cook for just a minute
- Now add the bell pepper, and stir.Pour in the chopped tomatoes, stock, lemon juice, add the chickpeas and lentils. Add the salt and pepper then stir well.
- Bring the pan to the boil, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer then cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid.Cook for about 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Check the seasoning halfway through cooking.Once the lentils are cooked and the sauce has thickened add the spinach to the pan, put the lid back on for about two minutes. Take the lid off then stir in the wilted spinach.
- Serve immediately with rice, naan, some coriander (cilantro) leaves.
Notes
- Calories are approximate and do not include rice or naan. Nutritional information is also approximate.
- To keep this dish vegan please check the stock you use, not all stock is vegan.
- If you are serving this to younger children you may want to reduce the heat slightly, I would omit the chilli pepper completely for young kids.
- For freezer instructions please see the post
- This dish is naturally gluten-free, again please check the stock to make sure it is gluten-free.
- If you want to batch cook this then there is a slider tool in the recipe card where you can increase the number of servings. This curry is really great for batch cooking.
So yummy. I omitted the chili peppers (because I’m a baby when it comes to heat), substituted in garlic powder for fresh and ginger root powder for fresh and curry for the cumin/turmeric/garam masala (because that’s what I had on hand) and added a sprinkle of cayenne (to give it a tiny bit of heat). We had it over a little brown rice and the non vegetarians added some chicken breast on top. Everyone really liked it. This one definitely made the repeat file. Thanks so much for sharing this. Now I’m excited to search through your other recipes.
Thanks so much Rebecca, I'm so glad you all liked it 🙂
Easy, freezes well for batch cooking. Tastes delicious with added chilli powder
So easy to make and yet so tasty. Just alter quantities to personal taste.
Thanks Lawrence, I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
I've been a vegetarian for 6 months now and for this reason I have been trying different plant-based recipes. This one has been my favorite so far. I usually add some almond or soy milk- it makes the texture creamy. Also, nuts and beans fit perfectly in the dish!
Hi Eve, I'm so glad you like it. I love your idea of adding plant milk to make it creamier, will definitely have to try that.
I’m usually not one for vegetarian/vegan meals but This works very well for me. Some good tips on when to add spices and for the addition of spinach too.
Thanks Kevin, I'm so glad you like it.
I made this tonight for dinner, it was my first time cooking with lentils. It was absolutely delicious - thanks for such a great recipe!
Hi Anick, thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Loved this. I cook a lot of different curries and attempted this one last night after it showed up in a Google search; my wife said this was one of her favourites - great recipe! Thank you.
Thank you so much Ayman, I'm so glad you both enjoyed it 🙂
Do u pre soak the lentils
Hi Carl, no, there is no need to pre-soak the lentils.
I just made this tonight and it was delicious! I doubled everything, including the spices as I wanted to make more. Doubled stock and used 750 mls home made tomato pasatta instead of canned tomatoes as I didn't have any, I doubled the red lentils, but also added about 500 gms of diced sweet potato, red capsicum instead of green and green beans as I had these in the fridge. It made the meal really hearty and my husband and teenage daughters loved it. Would be nice with green peas as well and would also be perfect with diced chicken thighs if you aren't vegan or vegetarian . I didnt want a curry that uses cream or coconut cream (even lite version) so this was perfect. will definitely be making this all the time. thank you.
Hi Amanda, thank you for your lovely comment. I'm so glad you all enjoyed it so much. I love some the adaptations you've made here too, will definitely try some of them next time I make this.
With being in shielding not wanting to gain weight was looking for healthy meals as i love curries this was perfect and so yummy too thanks for sharing x
Hi Karen, I'm so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I'm not even Vegan but for the first time I actually didn't feel like meat for dinner I think it was the summer heat, looked up a vegan recipe and tried this with rice! Was blown away with the flavor it was absolutely what I felt like! Delicious!
Hi Josh, thank you so much! I'm so glad you liked it 🙂
I've always loved lentils because they're so quick cooking (no need to soak), but I've never tried them in curry before. This sounds off the charts good!
I made this for dinner last night and it was a total hit! Thanks so much for sharing!
I love how flavorful this is!! Yummy!!
Best option for my vegetarian friends. Looks spicy and delicious.
I am always looking for great Vegan recipes for my friend Melissa, she decided to make a lifestyle change last year and is always looking for delicious recipes. I'm so glad I found this one it looks amazing.