Vegan curries are just as easy to make as meat curries. Here’s an easy weeknight vegan curry recipe made with a creamy cashew nut milk.
Making vegan dishes has become quite common at home. A friend once told me that having a vegetarian or vegan meal every now and then is more than just not eating meat, it’s about the environment too.
With brands such as Quorn set to make a change in the way people consume protein substitutes, it really got me thinking about vegan food and recipes.
Although not a vegetarian myself, cooking and eating vegetarian food has always been a big part of my life. I was introduced to vegetarian food through my religion, as my parents wouldn’t cook any meat on Fridays when I was a child. This made me look at vegetarian and vegan food differently – I started to really enjoy it. The possibilities with or without protein substitutes or mock meat are quite endless with vegetarian recipes and food.
This curry here was something I toyed with when thinking about how to add a creamy quality to curry without actually using cream or coconut milk. I don’t have anything against coconut milk (on the contrary, I use it in everything), but innovation in the kitchen is essential to a life well lived. My dad used to add blended cashew milk to chicken curry as a thickener – a flavour profile that has stuck with me all these years.
You can add cashew milk to other curries as well, though I will caution that cashew milk can make your gravy more thick than you bargained for. If you like your curry to be a tad runny, then remember to dilute with water.
This is a pumpkin and green pea curry. The pumpkin marries well with the bland cashews, while the green peas mirror the sweetness in the pumpkin. To offset all of this, I added extra curry powder and spices to the mix. This helps to create a nice balance. If you’d like to substitute the pumpkin for other vegetables – go right ahead. Unlike baking, there aren’t many ways to screw up a recipe likes this, as it’s damn simple.
I also bought pre-cut pumpkin chunks here, which is not what I did for my Thai Red Curry recipe. This is a weeknight recipe, where I need things to be quick and snappy. Pumpkins can be arduous to skin, and I ain’t got time for that after work on a Wednesday.
Please feel free to experiment with this recipe. If you’ve got any doubts, queries or questions, drop me an email or leave a comment below! I am happy to hear from you!
Ingredients
- 100g Cashew Nuts
- 250ml Water
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Medium Red Onion, peeled and sliced thinly
- 3 Cloves Garlic, peeled and chopped
- ½ Inch Piece Ginger, peeled and chopped
- 150g Skinned and Cubed Pumpkin
- 100g Green Peas (frozen)
- 1 ½ Tbsp Curry Powder
- ½ Tbsp Cumin Seed Powder
- ½ Tsp Turmeric Powder
- Salt to taste
Method
- Start by making the cashew milk. In a blender, combine the nuts and water and blend to a smooth, milky consistency. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan, then fry the onions, garlic and ginger until the onions are soft and the mixture is fragrant. Add the ginger and garlic about 2 mins after the onions, to keep the garlic from burning. Once fragrant, add the pumpkin and frozen peas. Mix well with the onion mixture. Cover and cook till pumpkin chunks begin to soften.
- The pumpkin chunks cook pretty quickly, so keep a watchful eye on the pot. This process should take anywhere between 7 to 10 minutes. You can remove the cover in 5 mins to check how the pumpkin is getting along in the heat. Once softened, add the curry powder, cumin powder, salt and turmeric powder. Mix well in the pan, then add the cashew milk that you blended at the start of the recipe.
- Bring to the boil, but again make sure to watch the pot. The cashew milk can thicken very quickly, so have a jug of water to thin out the gravy as you go, depending on how you like your curry. Bear in mind that thinning the curry will also dilute the flavour, so remember to keep tasting during the cooking process.
- Once the first boil appears, you can remove the pan from the heat. Serve over warm, cooked rice and enjoy!
