Chickpea Cauliflower Curry
Chickpea Cauliflower Curry, a hearty vegan curry recipe filled with chickpeas, fresh cauliflower, tomatoes, and warm spices. This fragrant curry makes an excellent side to an Indian-themed meal, or serve it over basmati rice for a vegan entrée.
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Chickpea Cauliflower Curry is not only a healthy and delicious dinner, it’s ready in only 30 minutes!
My recipe uses one of my all-time favorite spices, cumin, plus curry powder, ginger, and a trio of ground peppers for a flavorful curry sauce that is as tasty as it is colorful!
Even though I like to prepare as many things from scratch as possible, I sometimes buy packages of Indian sides like spiced lentils or curried potatoes & chickpeas in those little ready-to-go pouches.
However, there isn’t a lot of food in a pouch and those pouches get expensive, so I decided to make it myself!
Well, I should have been making it myself all along because Chickpea Cauliflower Curry is not only an easy-to-make one-pot meal, it is soooo good.
Dare I say better than those pouches? Not only is the curry flavor delicious, but you can’t get the great texture from fresh cauliflower in any shelf-stable package at the store.
Ingredients needed for this recipe (scroll down to recipe card for complete recipe):
- Cauliflower
- Canned chickpeas
- Tomatoes
- Garlic
- Onion
- Ginger
- Olive oil
- Tomato paste
- Vegetable broth
- Cilantro
- Spices (curry powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, white pepper)
What I love most about the curry flavor in this dish is how warm and earthy the spices are.
Adding potatoes or substituting potatoes for the chickpeas would be a delicious alternative.
How to make this recipe
- Simply sauté cauliflower for a little bit until it starts to soften and get some color. Then add the onion, tomatoes, garlic, and ginger.
- After a couple minutes, add the spices and cook for a couple more minutes. Then stir in the tomato paste, vegetable broth, and chickpeas. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle cilantro into the curry just before serving and garnish with more cilantro.
📍The full recipe with exact ingredient amounts and instructions is on the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Is this curry spicy?
This recipe contains cayenne pepper, which makes this a little spicy.
If you want, omit the cayenne to make it mild.
To make it even spicier, you can increase the cayenne pepper and/or add some dried Thai chiles or chile de arbol, then pull them out before it’s served.
Don’t forget about all the health benefits this curry provides.
Turmeric, a common spice in curry powder, is known for its anti-inflammatory properties.
Cauliflower, tomatoes, ginger, and garlic, are great for your general health, and you also get protein and fiber from the chickpeas.
Looking for more vegetarian recipes? Here are some favorites:
- Mediterranean Balela Salad
- Mushroom Kale Lasagna (shown below)
- Italian Chickpea Vegetable Soup
- Mushroom Goat Cheese Wraps
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Chickpea and Cauliflower Curry
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 head of a large cauliflower approx. 3 1/2 cups, chopped into florets
- 1 cup chopped tomato
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 1/2-2 tablespoons curry powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 1/2-2 teaspoons sea salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons tomato paste
- 15.5 ounce can chickpeas drained
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro plus more for garnish
Instructions
- Add oil to a large pan, sauté cauliflower florets over med-med/high heat until they start to soften and get a little bit of color (about 10 minutes, stirring frequently).
- Add tomatoes, onion, garlic, ginger, cumin, curry powder, cayenne pepper, white pepper, black pepper and 1 tsp of the salt to the veggies in the pot. Sauté for 3-4 minutes then add the tomato paste, vegetable broth, and chickpeas. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.
- Taste for any needed salt. If needed, add more to taste. Stir in 1-2 tbsp. of the cilantro. Serve as a side dish or as a main dish on top of rice. Garnish with more cilantro when serving. Enjoy!
Notes
- This recipe makes approximately 4 servings as a main dish over rice. It will make about 8 servings as a side dish.
- If you like spicy curry, I like to sauté a minced jalapeno with the onion and garlic. I'll also add a couple dried chile de arbol or Thai chile peppers when it's simmering, then pull them out before serving.
- Once cooled, keep leftovers in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
This recipe popped up on a FB vegan & veg group I had joined back in 2018. I was a new vegan and this was The First curry recipe I made…..fast forward to 2024…..I am still vegan and this is hands. down. the. best. curry. base. out. there! I make the recipe as is. I swap out other veggies like broccoli, carrots, zucchini, beans, etc. too…use tofu…the sky is the limit! My family is not vegan and this is their fave curry as well! I usually double or triple the recipe and it freezes well.
Mick, your comment means so much to me, as this was my first vegan recipe I created! I’m so glad your family enjoys it too! My kids even like this curry, which astonishes me :)
I’ve made this… it’s soooo good!
Excellent & easy to make! We threw rotisserie chicken in it & full dinner w tons of flavor! Use high quality curry & since we are spicy I added more cayenne pepper after serving it up.
Best curry I’ve ever had!!