Chickpea Curry Recipe
Updated: August 26, 2023, By Swasthi
This easy Chickpea Curry is super delicious, satisfying and can easily make it to the top, on your weekly menu. This Coconut Chickpea Curry comes together quick, with little effort and can satisfy everyone with different dietary needs – vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free or high-protein. Packed with protein, vegetables, and spices, it will tantalize your taste buds and leave everyone’s bellies full and happy.
All it really needs is some sort of grain or flatbread like Chapati or Naan, on the side. You have a delicious dinner that gets even better as lunch leftovers the next day. Chickpeas have been cultivated, or at least eaten, in the Middle East for nearly 10,000 years. They were eventually brought to and cultivated in the Mediterranean and South Asia, where they remain important to local cuisines.
In fact, there are a few very famous spiced chickpea dishes from the Indian subcontinent called Chana Masala, Punjabi Chole and Aloo Chana Kurma.
About Chickpea Curry
This is not a Chana Masala and not a Punjabi Chole as well! Coconut Chickpea Curry is a simple & fast one pot Indian dish of curried chickpeas made with coconut milk, tomatoes and store-bought ground spices. That said, you can absolutely change up some of the flavors of this beautiful curry. Make it authentic coconut chickpea curry by following my recipe notes below.
This fast recipe is simple and straight forward, where we simmer the prepared chickpeas with the rest of the ingredients for a delicious curried dish bursting with flavors. Even with such a simple and crowd-pleasing recipe, there are so many ways to personalize it and make it really special.
To make this Chickpea Curry recipe fast, grab a can or two of chickpeas, canned tomato puree (passata), and coconut milk. If you love to work with all fresh ingredients from scratch (including coconut milk) you can also do that but takes time. Do check my pro tips section for that.
Love to work with dried chickpeas instead of canned? Rinse 1 cup dried chickpeas and soak overnight in warm water. Drain and rinse the soaked chickpeas, then add them to a stovetop pressure cooker or instant pot along with 1½ cups of water.
For the electric pressure cooker, pressure cook them for 17 minutes; for the stovetop pressure cooker, wait for 3 to 5 whistles depending on the model.
Above all, make sure the chickpeas, whether canned or pressure cooked, are really soft before adding them to the curry or else you risk the acidity in the tomatoes turning them hard. I have more tips in the Pro tips section below.
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One of the best parts of this recipe is it comes together in a flash, if you have the ingredients ready. Here’s how to put it together.
Photo Guide
How to make Chickpea Curry (Stepwise Photos)
1. In a large pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Add 1 ½ cups of chopped onions. Cook the onions until they turn golden, stirring every 2 minutes to prevent burning.
2. Add 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger and 1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic. Sauté with the onions until you can smell the garlic and ginger, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remember to stir to prevent burning.
3. Turn the heat to low and add
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder or mild smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon curry powder (or 1 teaspoon garam masala).
4. Toast the spices for 30 to 40 seconds and stir to keep them from burning.
5. Once the spices become aromatic, stir in the 1½ cups fresh or 1 cup canned/bottled tomato purée.
6. Cook it on medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes to remove the raw flavor of the tomatoes.
7. Add the 3 cups of canned or pre-cooked chickpeas, ¾ cup water or chickpea stock, and 1¼ cups coconut milk. If using canned chickpeas, make sure they’re tender and you’ve drained and rinsed the chickpeas before adding them.
8. Cover the pan and simmer the curry on low heat for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes so the bottom of the curry doesn’t burn.
9. You’ll know it’s done when the chickpeas are melt-in-your-mouth soft and have absorbed the flavors of the curry. If they taste bland or too firm, cook at least another 5 to 10 minutes or until ready, adding more water if required.
10. Stir in ½ teaspoon garam masala and 1 teaspoon sugar (optional), then taste test and add either more garam masala (up to another ½ teaspoon if using store bought) or salt to your preference. If you want you may add more coconut milk to your taste. Turn off the heat and keep the curry covered until serving time; this helps retain the flavors of chickpea curry.
11. Once the curry cools slightly, garnish with ¼ cup cilantro leaves. Top the curry with some freshly squeezed lemon juice and serve.
Serving Suggestions
Great! You’ve made a delicious coconut chickpea curry. But how do you turn it into a rounded meal that can be spaced out over several servings?
You serve it with grains or bread! One of the best parts of the curry is the sauce, and a great way to soak up every bit of it is with some simple steamed or boiled grains and seeds such as white or brown rice, quinoa, or millet alongside deep-fried poppadoms if you feel fancy. Their mild taste allows them to absorb flavors beautifully.
If you have access to a bakery or time to make your own, flatbreads are perfect for scooping up the saucy chickpeas. Roti, Chapati and Butter Naan pair well with curries, but you can also try Parathas.
Pro Tips
Chickpeas: Check if your chickpeas are tender by squeezing a chickpea between your fingers. Does the chickpea smash easily? Then it’s ready to go into the curry. If your canned chickpeas are undercooked or have too much bite, boil them in plain water until soft.
Liquid: While I prefer to use plain water or chickpea water (aquafaba from the pressure cooked chickpeas) to make the curry. But you can replace the water in the curry with vegetable stock.
Love coconut milk? Add as much as you want! Just keep in mind that it will dilute the other flavors of the curry. All you will taste is only the coconut milk! If you prefer, you can either substitute the 1 ¼ cups canned coconut milk with homemade coconut milk or extract from 2 cups fresh or frozen coconut.
To make your own homemade coconut milk, grind 2 cups of fresh or frozen grated coconut with 1 cup of water in a food processor or blender.
Curry Leaves: If you want you may throw in 1 to 2 sprigs of curry leaves to the hot oil before adding the onions.
For spices, you can substitute the 1 tablespoon curry powder for 1 teaspoon garam masala, pav bhaji masala, or misal masala.
Authentic Coconut Chickpea curry : To make the authentic version, make your own spice blend by using the ingredients I mentioned in the recipe notes below.
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Recipe Card
Chickpea Curry Recipe
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 2 tablespoons oil (or ghee for flavor)
- 3 cups chickpeas (precooked or 2 – 15 Oz cans or 1 cup dry chickpeas, refer notes)
- 1½ cup onions ( fine chopped, 1 large or 2 medium onions)
- 1 tablespoon ginger (1 inch fresh root, peeled & fine chopped)
- 1 tablespoon garlic (4 to 5 garlic cloves, peeled & fine chopped)
- 1½ cups fresh tomato puree (or 1 cup canned/bottled tomato puree)
- 1½ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder (adjust to taste, or mild smoked paprika)
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon coriander powder
- 1 tablespoon curry powder (or 1 teaspoon garam masala or pav bhaji masala )
- ½ to 1 teaspoon garam masala (start with ½ teaspoon)
- 1 teaspoon sugar (optional, to balance the flavors)
- ¾ cups water or stock (use up to 1¼ cups, refer notes)
- 1¼ cups coconut milk (canned or first pressed or water or stock, refer notes)
- ¼ cup coriander leaves (chopped cilantro)
Instructions
How to make Chickpea Curry
- Pour oil to a large pot & heat on a medium flame. Add chopped onions and cook until golden, stirring every 2 mins.
- Add ginger and garlic. Saute for 1 to 2 mins until the aroma of ginger garlic comes out.
- Lower the heat completely. Add salt, red chili powder, turmeric, cumin powder, coriander powder and curry powder (or garam masala).
- Give a quick stir, taking care not to burn them. When you smell the spices aromatic, stir in the tomato puree. If using fresh tomato puree (not bottled), cook for about 4 to 5 mins, on a medium heat until the tomatoes cook down and loose the raw flavor.
- Add chickpeas (Preboiled or canned), water (or stock) and coconut milk. Mix well. If using canned chickpeas, make sure they are tender and not hard. Drain the liquid away in your sink from the can and rinse them well before adding to the coconut curry.
- Cover and simmer on a low heat for 15 mins, stirring every 5 mins so the curry doesn’t burn at the bottom. When done the chickpeas should have a soft and melt-in-the- mouth texture with all of the flavors absorbed. If they taste bland cook them a little longer, adding more water if required.
- Stir in the garam masala and sugar. Taste test and add more salt or garam masala if required.
- Turn off the heat. Keep the coconut chickpeas curry covered until served, this helps to retain the flavors of the garam masala.
- When the temperature comes down a bit, garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Squeeze in some lemon juice and serve over steamed rice, quinoa & millets or with roti, naan or any flatbreads.
Notes
- If you want you can throw 10 to 12 curry leaves to the hot oil before adding the onions.
- Substitute curry powder with 1 teaspoon garam masala. You can also use pav bhaji masala or misal masala (homemade or store bought).
- Use 1 cup dried chickpeas in place of canned. For this rinse and soak them overnight in warm water. Later drain the water and rinse them well. Pour 1 ½ cups water and pressure cook in Instant pot for 17 minutes. To cook in the stovetop cooker, pressure cook for 3 to 5 whistles depending on the type of your cooker.
- Chickpeas must essentially be soft and tender before adding to the curry. Undercooked chickpeas will turn hard after adding to the curry due to the acidic ingredient – tomatoes. Test by squeezing the chickpea, it should get mashed easily.
- If your canned chickpeas are undercooked or have a bite to them, boil for a while with plain water.
- The stock referred to in the ingredients is chickpeas cooked stock (aquafaba). If using canned chickpeas, discard the liquid from the can & rinse them well.
- You can use as much coconut milk as you want. But you may taste only the coconut milk in the curry with diluted flavors of spices.
- Don’t like coconut milk? – simply leave out and use water or stock to cook the dish. You may need to reduce the amount of spices if you cook the dish with water.
- Substitute coconut milk with 2 cups fresh or frozen coconut. To make fresh coconut milk, grind 2 cups fresh or frozen grated coconut with 1 cup water).
- To make the authentic coconut chickpea curry, roast and blend the following ingredients. You don’t need to use curry powder or any coconut milk. 2 sprigs curry leaves ¾ cup fresh coconut (loosely measured) 3 green cardamoms 1 teaspoon fennel seeds ¼ to ½ teaspoon black pepper 4 to 5 cloves 2 inch cinnamon ¾ teaspoon cumin seeds 1 ½ tablespoons coriander seeds ½ to ¾ cup water to grind
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About Swasthi
I’m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
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Comments
I just made this today as the weather is gloomy and I wanted something comforting. It was perfect! Really warming and filling. I’ll be making it a lot in the future. Thanks for posting! 🙂
Lovely saucy chickpea curry! I made this twice so far and it turned out fantastic both the times. All the recipes I have tried so far had too little sauce or too watery. This recipe was perfect for us because we are sauce lovers. Thank you
Hi Swasthi. Not sure when you first posted this but only became aware this morning. Chick peas in the pressure cooker and was loved by the family. My version not as red but was superb. Maybe 8 years now cooking your recipes-always great. So again, thank you 🙏🏿 for sharing your great talents.
Hello Sandy,
You are most welcome and Thank you so much for being a long-time reader. So glad your family liked this chickpea curry. The deep red color is from the mutti pasta and the curry powder I used. I have the recipe of the curry powder in this sprouts curry – misal pav. If you are too bored with the same flavors of store bought spice blends do try that. Thanks again!
Thank you Swasthi. I will try the misal pav powder. Can you tell me, the curry powder you link in the chickpea curry – is that more aromatic than sambar powder and could I substitute sambar powder next time coo the chickpea curry. As always, my thanks.
Sandy, you can use sambar powder in combination with garam masala. The curry powder linked in the post has a different flavor from the sambar powder. I haven’t tried this recipe with sambar powder but I think your idea works the same way like curry powder. May be both will taste the same. I will try out that and update this post.
I’ve made several of the recipes and they are all as good or better than restaurant flavor (even thou I’m a novice)
Thanks for trying Robert
I adore this dish. It’s sharp, fresh, delicious..so many flavours and sensations with every mouthful! Your instructions are a joy to follow and the end result is stunning. Many thanks!
Thank you so much for the kind words Martha. So glad you like the recipe
I’ve been looking for a chickpea curry recipe and came across this! I’m a novice cook when it comes to Indian flavors and cooking. I did not have Garam Masala but think for a first attempt it came out delicious! Quick question though: can I freeze this dish if not, how long will it last in the fridge.
That’s nice to know Eileen. It can be refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for a month. The sauce can turn slightly grainy due to the coconut milk but tastes good. Thanks for trying
Swasthi recipes are perfect and of course authentic !
The right ingredients and spice combinations and ratios.. unlike so called experts not from Indian background’s!
Thanks Sarita
Regarding the authentic method, can you please share more details? Like do I roast the curry leaves with the other dry seeds? How long do I roast them? And after grinding everything together in which step do I add it ? Do I add it with the salt, red chilli powder, turmeric, cumin powder, coriander powder and curry powder?
Hi Dede,
I have the stepwise photos and clear instructions on that here on my kadala curry. Add the paste during the last 5 to 6 mins. Add water cautiously, only as required because you will add more while grinding. Hope you enjoy the dish.
Swasthi’s kadala curry recipe has all the links to those i tried in Kerala.
Hi, what do you mean t “¾ cup fresh coconut ”? Grated coconut? Or like one whole big piece?
Hi Dede,
Yes it is grated coconut (fresh or frozen raw coconut). If you use chopped pieces 1/2 cup should be enough.
I am a student living on a budget and love homecooked meals. Your recipes have helped me very much. Do you have a recommendation for the Instant pot timing? I will be using canned chickpeas and tomato paste. TIA
Glad to know Manoj. Pressure cook for 5 mins on high pressure and you will need only about 3/4 cup water. Hope you enjoy this.
OMG this chickpea curry is the best thing I have ever eaten! So silky and saucy with a blast of flavors. I understand the tomato puree with coconut is delicious in this dish. I also made your curry powder and garam masala. I think you make the best Indian recipes. Keep up the great work! Next is your chana masala and that sounds even more delicious…
Andrea, Thank you so much for sharing back & appreciate your time. I am so happy to read this. Hope you like the chana masala too.
Thank you. It turned out amazing with Sri Lankan curry powder and garam masala. I used chopped tomatoes and made no other changes.
That’s nice to know Kanishk. Thank you for sharing back.
Do you think I can use ready made chole masala? If so how much should I be adding? I already have some frozen pressure cooked chickpeas. Do I need to make any changes?
Hi Swara,
Yes you may use 1 to 2 tablespoons chole masala depending on how spicy and strong you want the flavors. You don’t need to make any changes. But I don’t recommend using canned tomatoes if you are using chole masala because it has amchur and your chickpea curry can taste too acidic/sour.
This chickpea curry looks delicious. I would appreciate if you could share with us how to prepare dry chickpeas from scratch. I have an allergy to canned foods and unfortunately I can’t eat canned chickpeas. Thank you for the reply
Hi Peter,
I have a detailed post on how to prepare chickpeas from scratch here on my chana masala post. However I don’t mind sharing it here. Rinse 1 cup chickpeas thrice and soak overnight in 4 cups water. Later drain and rinse them well. Bring 3 cups water to a rapid boil and cook the chickpeas with 1/4 teaspoon baking soda or 1/2 tsp baking powder, until tender. Later drain the water and use the chickpeas. Alternately you many soak them overnight with baking soda/powder and rinse after the soak. Boil them in water. If you want you may add salt or whole spices like bay leaf, cardamoms, cinnamon etc while boiling. Hope this helps.
Today i brought 1 cup chick peas and water to a boil-turned off heat and allow to soak for three hours. Then rinse-add to pressure cooker with 2 cups water and pinch of bicarbonate of soda. On medium-high flame, allow to whistle 12 times. Remove from heat and allow pressure to reduce naturally -maybe 10 minutes. Chick peas soft but still hold form.
Thanks for sharing that Sandy. It’s going to help other readers.
I was concerned when I read the reviews that they weren’t real but now I’ve made this curry I can add mine. It was absolutely delicious and my husband said it was the best curry I’ve made – and I make lots! Thank you for sharing and I can’t wait to try your others. I agree with another review that you could add more veg easily as it is so saucy!
Thank you for sharing back Nicky! Yes this curry has a good amount of sauce and IMO chickpeas need that. Glad you both like it.
I had been to India in last Dec and enjoyed the streets foods there. One particular chickpea curry was more common and popular in Delhi, the place where I spent a month. Do you have a recipe for that?
Yes I have. You can check them here – Chana Masala and Chole Masala
I started with dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked with a little baking soda. It took me about 45 minutes and they taste better than canned. The curry was amazingly delicious. I also added a boiled potato and omitted coconut milk because I don’t like coconut flavor.
Thanks for trying Delilah. Potato is a great addition!
Another delicious recipe from Swasthi! I used a can each of tomatoes & coconut to make it quickly and my whole family enjoyed it! I just did not add water as it was not necessary. Next time I will fry some tofu and add it.
Glad you like it Faith. Thank you so much!
Easy peasy and super yummy recipe ????
Thanks Shona
Made this with sprouted chickpeas and added coconut palm syrup in place of sugar, dried cilantro rather than fresh; and lime juice.
Thanks for sharing back Carol
why can’t I email recipe to myself and share with my friends!!
Sherry, You should be able to email the recipe link from the social share, below the title