Curry sauces – whether Thai or Indian – are spicy, saucy, and intensely flavourful. While it is possible to make curry sauces at home, buying pre-made curry paste is generally easier for home cooks who are pressed for time.
Indian versus Thai Curry Paste
While Indian curries (like channa masala or vegetable korma) are made using dried spices, Thai curries are made with more fresh ingredients. The dominant flavours in most Thai curry pastes are fresh chili pepper, lemongrass, kefir lime, and ginger (or galangal). Thai curries tend to rely on coconut milk rather than butter for their sauce base.
Use your favourite type of Thai curry paste for this recipe. Red curry paste is usually hotter, while green is slightly sweeter and less spicy – but it still packs a punch.
For a vegan Thai chickpea curry, substitute vegetable oil (coconut oil or another oil with that can withstand high temperatures) for the butter.
Choosing Elephant Garlic or Regular Garlic
Elephant garlic – the large bulbs several times larger than regular garlic – are used in this recipe to give it just a hint of extra garlicky, oniony flavour. The curry paste imparts enough complexity that it isn’t necessary to add a lot of additional flavours. If no elephant garlic is available, try substituting two cloves of white garlic, and be sure to watch for burning in the pan.
Serve Thai chickpea curry with a mound of white rice to sop up the tangy coconut sauce, and to cool the heat from the curry paste.
Thai Chickpea Curry Recipe
Serves: 4
Total preparation plus cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 1-2 Tbsp. butter or vegetable oil (or more, if required for the pot)
- 2 medium cooking onions, chopped
- 2 cloves elephant garlic, thinly sliced (or 2 cloves garlic, sliced)
- 2 small/medium carrots, sliced thinly into circles
- ½ green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 heaping Tbsp. Thai curry paste
- 1 (19 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ½ (19 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- ½ (14 ounce) can coconut milk
- 4 green onions, chopped
- ½ bunch (approximately 1 cup) chopped cilantro
Directions:
- Heat butter or oil in a large skillet or pot over medium-high heat.
- Cook onions until soft; turn heat down to medium. Add elephant or white garlic.
- Stir often to prevent sticking, adding more butter or oil if required.
- Add chopped carrot and pepper, stirring well.
- Cover pot to allow the vegetables to cook over low-medium heat for 20 minutes.
- Add chickpeas, kidney beans, curry paste, vegetable broth, and coconut milk.
- Heat through and add pepper to taste.
- Serve in bowls with white rice on the side.
- Top each serving with chopped green onions and cilantro.
