Aubergine and Chickpea Curry

An Aubergine and Chickpea Curry is a delicious healthy vegan curry and ready in under 30 minutes. It's also dairy and gluten free, has just 220Kcal per serving and is very economical! If you need any more reasons to give this a try, it's super easy to cook and tastes amazing!

I've experimented with various aubergine /eggplant curry recipes and come back to this version. Roasting the aubergines whilst the rest of the curry cooks before stirring them in at the end makes this super easy to prepare. I love the simple tomato based sauce with added spices as it's not too heavy but full of flavour. If you like this curry, you might also like my Chickpea and Lentil Curry, or my Vegetarian Thai Green Curry

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• Recipe Tips and Variations
• How to make it
• Serving Suggestions
• Sustainability
• Storage
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Recipe Tips and Variations

• Aubergines don't need to be peeled, just give them a wash and dice them into cubes roughly 2cm. This way they won't take too long to roast.
• You may have heard you should soak aubergine in salt. The reason this used to be done was because aubergine varieties years ago were more bitter than they are today. Salting helped to draw out the bitterness. Today's varieties don't really need salting. However, when we are roasting them, the salt helps them absorb less oil and crisp up so I would recommend tossing them in a little salt before roasting.
• I've used a variety of spices in this recipe to give a lovely curried flavour. As an alternative, you could use a few tablespoons of curry paste if you prefer. The amount will depend on the strength of the curry paste and your personal preference. I would start with 2 tablepsoons for a serving for 4.
• Aubergines and chickpeas both have a creamy texture and so I've kept this sauce tomato based. However, if you prefer, you could substitute half the tinned or canned tomatoes with the same quantity of coconut milk.
• I use cooked chickpeas from a tin in this recipe as it's easy. Make sure you drain and rinse them before adding to the curry or you will have too much liquid. Dried chickpeas would need to be soaked first before using and this is best done overnight as it takes 8 - 12 hours.

How to make it

• Pre-heat the oven to 200C/395F/gas mark 6. Toss the aubergine in half the olive oil and season with a teaspoon of salt. Roast in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes. until the aubergine is crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.
• Pour the rest of the olive oil to a large frying pan and gently fry for onion for 2 - 3 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, ginger and fry for a further minute
• Add the spices, ground coriander, ground cumin, tumeric, garam masala and curry powder and fry for one minute. This helps release all the flavours. Alternatively, you could add a curry paste here.
• Add the chopped tomatoes, drained chickpeas and fresh coriander leaves and simmer for 10 minutes. stirring occasionally
• Add the roasted aubergine, stir together and serve.

Serving Suggestions

I like to serve this curry with white or brown rice such as basmati or a fragrant jasmine rice. You could also serve it with Flatbread (check out my very easy recipe for this). A spoonful of natural yoghurt adds an extra creaminess and can be used to tone down the spice if you need to. Fresh coriander or cilantro leaves are lovely sprinkled over the top.

Sustainability

This vegan aubergine curry recipe is a great meat free recipe. Many of the ingredients can be bought Fairtrade, including all the spices as well as the chickpeas. Fairtrade promotes sustainable farming practices in the fight against climate change as well as providing a fair deal for some of the worlds poorest farmers.

Storage

This is a great recipe for making in bulk as it stores well. It can be stored in the fridge for 2 - 3 days. You can also freeze it and it's best eaten with 3 months. Making a batch of a recipe can save on energy use.

More Curry Recipes

"Recipe"

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