Mild Chickpea and Sweet Potato Coconut Curry
Sweet potato and chickpeas simmered until tender in a mild coconut curry sauce, with spinach wilted in at the end. Comforting, creamy and gently spiced, made for rice.
- Total
- 50 min
- Prep 15 · Cook 35
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Blooming spices · Simmering
- Savory
- Indian
- Mild
- Stovetop
- Oven
Instructions
-
Peel the sweet potato and cut it into 2 cm cubes. Drain the chickpeas. Measure the rice and rinse it under cold running water until the water runs clear.
~10 min
Rinsing removes surface starch so the grains stay separate instead of turning gluey as they cook.
-
Put the rice in the saucepan with 600 ml water and a pinch of the salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and cook on low for 15 minutes, until the water is absorbed and the grains are tender. Take it off the heat and leave it covered to steam.
~15 min
Covering and steaming off the heat lets residual moisture finish the grains gently, keeping them fluffy rather than waterlogged.
-
While step 2 cooks
While the rice cooks, heat 1 tbsp oil in the large pan over medium heat. Add 2 tbsp curry paste and stir for 1 minute, until it smells fragrant and darkens slightly.
~1 min
Frying the paste in oil blooms its spices, dissolving fat-soluble flavours and cooking off the raw, harsh edge.
Let the curry paste sizzle in the oil for a full minute before the sweet potato goes in: this cooks off its raw edge and gives the sauce a deeper base.
Blooming spices Fry the paste in oil until it darkens and smells fragrant, about a minute. Stop before it burns, which turns the whole sauce bitter.
-
Add the sweet potato cubes to the pan and stir to coat them in the curry paste. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until the edges start to colour.
~5 min
-
Pour in 400 ml coconut milk and add the drained chickpeas and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes, until the sweet potato is tender when pierced with a knife and the sauce has thickened slightly.
~15 min
Simmering gently lets the coconut milk reduce and thicken while the sweet potato cooks through without breaking apart.
If the sauce looks thin at the end, simmer it uncovered for 2 to 3 minutes rather than adding anything; the coconut milk thickens as it reduces.
Simmering Keep the sauce at a gentle bubble, not a rolling boil. Small bubbles thicken the coconut milk evenly; hard boiling can split it.
-
Stir the spinach into the pan in handfuls and cook for 2 minutes, until just wilted. Taste and add the last pinch of salt if needed. Spoon the rice into bowls and ladle the curry over it.
~2 min
Adding spinach at the end preserves its bright colour and texture, since it wilts in seconds once it hits the heat.