Chickpea and Sweet Potato Madras Curry

Chickpea and sweet potato madras is the curry I make when there is no meat in the house and I want something that still eats like a proper dinner. The sweet potato is roasted on a tray before it ever meets the sauce, which is not how most versions of this dish are built and is the reason it tastes the way it does. There is no tomato in it either: the gravy is coconut milk and vegetable stock, so it comes out golden and mellow rather than sharp and red.

The card carries a madras curry powder of my own as well as the curry, so you can use a shop-bought powder or mix your own. As written it is eight ground spices stirred together in a bowl, which takes a minute and nothing more. If you want to go further than that, buy the cumin and coriander whole, toast them in a dry pan until they smell nutty and grind them yourself: toasting browns the sugars and proteins in the seed and builds a roasted layer of flavour on top of the raw one. For that, and for nothing else in this recipe, you will want an inexpensive spice grinder.

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Understanding Madras Curry

Origin and Historical Context

Madras curry, a vibrant blend of spices and herbs, traces its roots to the South Indian city formerly known as Madras, now Chennai. Essential ingredients include chili powder, coriander, cumin, turmeric, and fenugreek. This spicy and tangy curry was introduced to the Western world during the British colonial era. British soldiers in India liked it a lot, making it a popular dish in the UK and then globally.

Variations and Ingredients

The versatility of Madras curry lies in its different versions. Depending on regional and individual preferences, some recipes use coconut milk, while others opt for tomatoes or tamarind paste. Vegetables such as sweet potatoes, bell peppers, and carrots are often added, enhancing both flavour and texture. The spiciness level can be tailored by adding more or less chili powder.

Modern Twists - Embracing Vegetarian and Vegan Options

With the rising trend in plant-based diets and veganism, modern chefs have crafted vegetarian versions of Madras curry. Popular ingredients like tofu, tempeh, and curried chickpeas serve as meat alternatives, catering to a wider audience seeking sweet potato veg curry and other vegetarian curry dishes.

How to Make Chickpea and Sweet Potato Madras, Step by Step

The card below has the quantities. This is the same five steps with the reasoning attached, and the first one is the step that makes this curry different from most of the others you will find.

1. Heat the oven to 200°C fan. Dice the sweet potato with the skin on, cutting the pieces to the same size so they cook at the same rate, toss them on a tray with a tablespoon of oil and a pinch of salt, and roast for about 20 minutes until tender and browning at the edges. Do not be tempted to tip it raw into the pan with everything else, which is what most recipes for this curry do. A sweet potato sweetens as it cooks because an enzyme inside it turns its starch into sugar, and that enzyme only works in a narrow window of heat before it is destroyed. Dropped into a simmering sauce, the pieces race through that window and the enzyme barely gets started. In the oven they travel through it slowly, so they come out genuinely sweeter as well as browned, and they hold their shape instead of collapsing into the gravy.
2. Warm two tablespoons of oil in a medium pot over a medium heat and cook the diced onion until it is soft and just starting to colour at the edges. Give this longer than feels necessary, because a pale onion is a thin curry and there is no meat here to make up the difference. Then stir in the garlic and ginger paste and give it a minute, no more. It is already broken down and it will catch and turn bitter far faster than the onion did.
3. Stir in a tablespoon of madras powder and fry it in the hot fat until the kitchen smells of it, which takes under a minute. Add the second tablespoon if you want it stronger. This step is worth more than it looks: frying ground turmeric, cumin and coriander together in oil lets the aroma compounds react with one another, so they taste like one spice mix rather than several powders sitting side by side. Use a shop-bought madras powder or the blend on the card, whichever you have. The blend makes roughly four tablespoons, so a batch of this curry uses somewhere between a quarter and a half of it and the rest keeps in a jar.
4. Tip in the drained, rinsed chickpeas and pour over the vegetable stock, enough to cover. Bring it up to a boil and then let it simmer for about ten minutes. Tinned chickpeas are already cooked, so this is not about softening them so much as giving them time to take on the spice, which they will not do in the two minutes it takes to warm them through.
5. Stir in the coconut milk and the roasted sweet potato and let it simmer uncovered until the sauce coats a spoon rather than running off it. Uncovered is the point, because that is what thickens it, and it will tighten a little more as it stands, so a pan that looks slightly loose is not a problem. Now taste it properly. A squeeze of lime or lemon at the end lifts the whole thing and is the one addition worth making if you make only one. If it tastes sharp rather than rounded, a small pinch of brown sugar or jaggery brings the sweet potato forward. Serve it over basmati with fresh coriander, and a handful of toasted cashews or crisp fried onions scattered over the top if you want something with a bit of crunch against all that softness.

Recipe Card for Chickpea and Sweet Potato Madras Curry

Recipe Card

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Madras Curry

A vegetarian madras with chickpeas and sweet potato in coconut milk, spiced with madras powder, fenugreek and cardamom.

★★★★★ 5 from 3 votes · Rate this recipe

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Prep

20 min

Cook

30 min

Total

50 min

Serves

4

Per serving

328 kcal

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4 servings

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Equipment I Use

Hybrid Non Stick Frying PanFine Mesh SieveSpice BlenderMedium sized pot

Ingredients

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Ingredients for Curry:

1 can Chickpeas, ready to eat, a 400 g tin, drained and rinsed, which gives you about 250 g 1 Sweet potato, small, about 250 g, diced with the skin on 1 Onion, medium size, diced 1 tbsp Garlic & Ginger paste 1 cup Coconut milk, (250ml) 1 cup Vegetable Stock, (250ml) 1-2 tbsp Mild Madras curry powder, adjust to your preference 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil, for pan frying, or ghee if you are not cooking vegan 1 bunch Fresh Coriander, (coriander) for garnish

Madras Curry Powder:

1 tbsp Ground Coriander 1 tbsp Ground Turmeric 1 tbsp Ground Cumin 1 tsp Ground Fenugreek ½ tsp Ground Cardamom ½ tsp Chilli Powder ½ tsp Black Pepper ½ tsp Ground Fennel Seeds

Instructions

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1

Roasting the Sweet Potato

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) with a fan setting. Place the diced sweet potato on a baking tray. Toss with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and a pinch of salt. Bake for around 20 minutes or until cooked through.

2

Preparing the Base

In a medium-sized pot, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the diced onion, cooking until softened and slightly browned. Stir in the ginger and garlic paste, cooking for an additional minute.

3

Spicing Things Up

Mix in 1 tablespoon of Madras curry powder with the onions, frying until aromatic. (You can increase by additional 1tbsp for stronger flavour)

4

Adding Chickpeas

Introduce the drained and rinsed chickpeas to the pot. Pour in vegetable stock to cover the ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer for around 10 minutes to soften the chickpeas.

5

Finishing Touches

Stir in 1 cup of coconut milk and the roasted sweet potato. Simmer until the curry reaches your desired consistency. Taste, adjusting seasoning if needed. Serve with basmati rice and fresh coriander. Enjoy!

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Chef’s notes＋

• Roasting Sweet Potatoes: Do not skip roasting the sweet potatoes. This process enhances their natural sweetness and infuses the curry with a deeper flavour.
• Choosing the Right Curry Powder: Opt for a high-quality Madras curry powder. Consider preparing your own spice blend with the provided recipe or select a reputable store-bought variant.
• Selecting the Right Oil: Employ vegetable oil or ghee when pan-frying onions. Their high smoke points and distinct flavours complement the curry beautifully.
• Handling Garlic and Ginger Paste: Exercise caution to avoid overcooking the garlic and ginger paste. A short cooking time of a minute or two suffices to unlock their aromatic profiles.
• Prepping Chickpeas: Always drain and rinse chickpeas before incorporating them. This step eliminates excess salt and starch.
• Achieving the Perfect Consistency: Ensure you add enough vegetable stock to submerge the solid ingredients. This quantity is key to getting the gravy texture right in the curry.
• Opting for Creaminess: Go for full-fat coconut milk to achieve a creamy, rich consistency. Light coconut milk may yield a more watery outcome.
• Final Flavour Adjustments: Before serving, taste and tweak the seasoning to your liking. You might find the need to introduce more salt, pepper, or even curry powder to meet your taste preferences.

Nutrition per serving＋

328 kcalProtein 7 gCarbs 33 gFat 19 gSat fat 11 gFibre 6 gSugar 5 gSodium 237 mgServing 300

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Madras Curry · https://chefsbinge.com/chickpea-and-sweet-potato-madras-curry/

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Ingredient Substitutions

• Sweet potato - swap for butternut squash or pumpkin; cut them the same size and cook until just tender.
• Chickpeas - use black-eyed beans, cannellini or kidney beans instead, or add an extra tin of any of them to bulk it out.
• Coconut milk - a light version keeps it lighter but a touch thinner; a spoon of plant cream or natural yoghurt stirred in at the end works too.
• Madras curry powder - start with a mild curry powder and add your own chilli to control the heat, or lean on garam masala for a warmer, gentler blend.
• Spinach - chopped kale, chard or frozen spinach all stand in nicely, and green beans or diced pepper add colour and bite.

What to Serve With Chickpea & Sweet Potato Madras

🍽 I love this curry ladled over a bowl of fluffy basmati rice, with warm naan or chapati on the side for mopping up all that golden coconut gravy. A cooling spoon of natural yoghurt and a squeeze of lime finish it off perfectly, and it makes a brilliant meal-prep lunch reheated the next day once the flavours have had time to settle. A plain leaf salad is the other thing worth having on the plate, since everything else here is soft and rich.

Storing, Freezing and Reheating

This is one of those curries that is better the next day, and it is worth making a batch for that reason alone. Cool it quickly rather than leaving the pan on the hob, get it into the fridge within a couple of hours, and eat it within three or four days. It freezes well for up to three months, and coconut milk behaves far better in the freezer than dairy cream does, so the sauce comes back together rather than splitting. Reheat it gently in a pan with a splash of water or stock, because it thickens as it sits and will want loosening. The one thing that does not survive the freezer especially well is the sweet potato, which softens a little each time, so if you know you are freezing half of it, keep the pieces on the chunky side to start with.

FAQ for Chickpea and Sweet Potato Madras

Serve crispy onion bhaji alongside as a starter.

A Few Words from the Chef

I would not call this an authentic Indian curry and I would not want to. Madras as we know it in Britain is a curry-house dish, and this is my vegetarian take on it, built around a sweet potato that has been roasted properly first. If you make it, tell me below how you got on, and whether you went for one tablespoon of the madras powder or two.