Chickpea and pumpkin curry – vegan, gluten-free

This simple vegan chickpea curry with pumpkin and coconut milk is gonna keep you warm and happy all winter long. Or until you’ve eaten all of it.

Winter is coming (<- hello, panic attack). In fact it’s already here. And aside from being a holiday season – a season when we’re supposed to do nothing and be happy every single day, it’s also the time when it’s freezing cold and we're hungry all the time.

It’s the time when it doesn’t quite get bright outside and the thought of fresh vegetables, smoothies and salads makes us freeze on the inside and shiver on the outside. All we want to do is wrap myself in a blanket and disappear for the next few months.

But unlike a bear in winter sleep, we will be drinking something hot, creamy and comforting. Or eating something that’s gonna warm up our body and tell us it’s fine – we will somehow survive this tough winter.

That’s why we've been making a lot of soups, stews and curries lately. Like this sweet and comforting chickpea and pumpkin curry.

We're pretty sure we did something illegal here, because we used garam masala with red curry paste, lime leaves and coconut milk. Which means this chickpea and pumpkin curry a mixture between Thai and Indian food. Someone stop us, because we're breaking some serious rules.

Now. We must warn you. All we know about curries is they taste good. So good that sometimes we would prefer them to pizza (<-can’t believe we said that).

Curry Vs Curry

The other thing we know is that the difference between Thai and Indian Curries is in the freshness of their ingredients.

Thai curries use fresh ingredients while Indian curries use dried. Right. We learned this from a book we bought a while back named 50 curries. We must say – we haven’t made any recipe from there yet, but we like the ideas and we read the intro.

That pretty much summarizes how we read any cook book. And how we usually follow recipes – we see something, or taste it and then we get an idea, how we want to make it.

Simple Chickpea Curry

For this curry we wanted something full of flavor, sweet, fresh and simple and fast. Here’s what’s important if you want to make it. Have everything you’ll need ready before you start. Chop all vegetables, drain and rinse the chickpeas, even open the can of coconut milk.

Curries are made quickly – you need all ingredients ready – no time for chopping or opening while cooking. That way vegetables stay fresh and crunchy and don’t overcook (something we love about Thai curries).

We didn’t add any garlic or onions to this curry, but if you want something more flavorful, add these detoxifying stinky angels before you add anything else. Sauté them with some olive oil first and then add the spices and red curry paste. Combine everything and then add coconut milk. It might even make the curry better.

For this chickpea and pumpkin curry we bought the garam masala and red curry paste, we did not make them myself. Otherwise it would’ve taken us a long time to find the ingredients and to make our own curry paste and garam masala. We're not saying we wouldn’t do it in the future one day when we need to make some new experiences in the kitchen, but right now we prefered to go with convenience.

A Little Warning Though

Also we made this curry vegetable-heavy, because right not this is our only source of vegetables. We're not eating any salads, because we feel like we would freeze like Elsa. One (almost warm) smoothie in the morning and that’s it. If you’d like to make this chickpea and pumpkin curry more sauce than veggies, just use half the vegetables / chickpeas or leave out the things you might not like.

Leftover Makeover

If you’re anything like us, you’ll eat a curry one day and the next day you’ll want something else. Not because you didn’t like the curry. Just because your capacity to eat the same thing every single day is sometimes quickly depleted. So if you don’t want curry the next day, BAM leftover makeover to the rescue. Stir fry that curry with the rice and some onions and garlic and there you go – vegan fried rice.

Health Benefits

This vegan coconut chickpea and pumpkin curry is the solid meal to keep you from getting a flu this winter. It’s gonna warm you up from the inside. This way your body can focus on keeping bacteria and viruses away, not on shivering to maintain your body temperature. It also contains a lot of spices like ginger & turmeric and vegetables that could prevent infections.

For a few tips how to boost your immune system read: 10 habits to boost your immune system

Hope you like this recipe – it’s simple, satisfying and warming.