Chard curry with chickpeas, eggplant & mango chutney yogurt
This chard curry is a hearty, flavorful, and vegetarian, with plenty of spices and coconut milk. Thick yogurt with mango chutney tops off this curry with a pinch of sweet and brings down the heat. So, if you’re looking for a new mix for your next curry night, give this chard curry a try!
Chard might be a less common vegetable to use in curry, but, really, it works great here. This chard curry recipe uses chard stems to give more texture to the curry. Include some leaves if you want, or you can use the leaves in my Eggplant and chard moussaka. 😉 Eggplant and a can of chickpeas for protein round out the main veggies. Serve over rice or your grain of choice.
So much chard stem…
Here in France, the main variety of chard sold has massive stems. It tastes quite similar to the dainty rainbow chard you commonly find in America, but so much more stem.
So, when a recipe only calls for the leaves, I find myself with a pile of perfectly good, unused chard stems. When I saw an idea for chard curry in the cookbook Obsessions végétales by Natacha Comar (great cookbook!), I had to try it. I mean, I had almost a kilo of chard stems in the freezer! The version of chard curry posted here uses her tasty curry as a starting point, with plenty of my own modifications. 😊
Key points for making chard curry
- The chard: Use whatever type of chard is available in your area. Definitely use the stems, but feel free to toss in the leaves towards the end of cooking if you want. Frozen chard stems work, too, they’re just a bit softer.
- Curry powder: Use a flavorful curry powder if you want a flavorful meal. I used a Vadouvan curry powder that I had on hand. Vadouvan curry powder a nice mix of savory from garlic & onion, a little sweet, and a little bittersweet from fenugreek. The slight sweetness makes it a good match for the veggies. If you have a couple curry powders in the cupboard, give them a sniff and see what you think matches best.
- The eggplant: I salt the eggplant before cooking here, though you might not need to if your eggplant is very fresh. If you salt slices of eggplant as the first step, they’re ready to go by the time you need to stick them in the pot.
- Onion purée: The onions, ginger, and garlic are puréed in a little food processor before cooking. Whether your food processor manages to turn them into a paste or whether there are small pieces left, your chard curry will still turn out fine.
I hope you enjoy this chard curry! Let me know what you think in the comments!
Chard curry with chickpeas & eggplant
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- ½ tsp yellow mustard seed
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 15 g fresh ginger
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 star anise
- 2 tsp yellow curry powder such as Vadouvan
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp fennel seed
- 400 ml (13.5 fl oz) canned coconut milk
- 70 g (¼ cup) tomato paste
- ¾ tsp salt
- 350 g (12 oz) chard stems or include some leaves
- 1 can chickpeas (400 g or 15.5 oz can)
- 10 g cilantro
Topping
- 125 g (½ cup) Greek yogurt
- 30 g (1½ tbsp) mango chutney
Instructions
- Prep eggplant: Slice the eggplant into 1-cm (½-inch) thick slices. Salt both sides and set aside.
- Make onion-ginger paste: Peel the onion, ginger, and garlic, and chop roughly. Blend in a food processor to form a paste (some small pieces are ok).
- Cook mustard seeds & onion paste: In a deep pan or pot, heat 2 tbsp oil over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and cover immediately. Once the mustard seeds have stopped popping, quickly add the onion paste (before the seeds burn). Cook 3 minutes.
- Add spices: Add the other spices, and cook another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid burning.
- Add liquids: Add the coconut milk, tomato paste, and ¾ tsp salt. Simmer while preparing the chard.
- Chop & add veggies: Separate the chard leaves and stems. Chop the stems into ½-cm (¼-inch) pieces. Chop the leaves roughly, if using. Blot the eggplant dry, and chop into 1-cm cubes. Add the chard stems and eggplant to the pan. Simmer 20 minutes.
- Add final veggies: Add the drained chickpeas and chard leaves (if using). Simmer another 5 minutes. The vegetables should be tender at this point.
- Chop the cilantro leaves, including the smaller stems. Stir into the curry.
- Make the topping: Stir the Greek yogurt and mango chutney together in a small bowl.
- Serve: Serve the chard curry over rice or with an Indian flatbread. Top with any extra cilantro leaves and a scoop of the yogurt topping.