Coconut milk curries have become one of my favorite things ever to cook. As long as you have the main ingredients--by which I mean coconut milk and curry paste--you can pretty much curry anything in your kitchen. Meat, beans, soy; broccoli, cabbage, squash, mushrooms: nearly any combination of protein and vegetable can make a delicious curry.

Do you have some black-eyed peas and cauliflower sitting around? Curry. How about a package of tofu and a bag of frozen peas? Curry. Dry red lentils and a bunch of spinach? You'll need to add some cooking liquid and make it into a rich soup, but it's still curry.

I usually make red curry for a couple reasons. First, we like spice, which rules out a gentle yellow or masaman curry. Second, the green curry paste at our usual grocery store contains shrimp, which is a problem in a half vegetarian household. I could solve this if I made my own curry paste, but that hasn't happened yet, so. Red curry it is.

On this particular occasion, I broke out a can of chickpeas and pulled some carrots and kale out of the crisper. Twenty minutes later, voila! A rich, satisfying, and spicy vegan dinner.


Red curry with chickpeas, carrot, and kale

peanut oil/flavorless oil of your choice
1 onion
1-inch chunk ginger
2-3 carrots
1 can/2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 cup coconut milk
1+ bunch kale
2-3 tbsp Thai red curry paste
salt
rice/etc to serve

Start by putting your rice on to cook. If you're making something quicker, like instant couscous or noodles, you can wait until your curry is almost done. Use your judgement.

OKAY. For the actual curry, start by warming a slug of peanut oil in a wide saute pan. Add a chunked onion, stir, and let soften while you peel (use the spoon trick) and finely mince a piece of ginger.

Add your ginger and a pinch of salt to the onions. Stir everything together and continue to cook while you wash, scrub, and cut your carrots into 3/4-inch-thick chunks. When your onions have started to turn translucent, dump in your carrots. Give them about five minutes, stirring occasionally, before you add your drained and rinsed chickpeas.

Shake your coconut milk well before pouring it into the pan. Add your curry paste and stir to combine. The amount here will depend on your spice tolerance. If you like hot and spicy dishes, add more curry paste; if not, add less. It's all good.

Bring everything up to a gentle boil, lid, reduce the heat, and let simmer five minutes. This will give your carrots a chance to cook through and your chickpeas a chance to absorb the spices.

While you're waiting, wash your kale, pull the leaves off the stems, and roughly chop them up. When your carrots are just tender, add your kale to the pan and stir. Put the lid aside and cook for another three or four minutes, or until the kale is completely wilted and the sauce has reduced to your desired thickness. You can always add a touch of water if it gets too thick.

Taste and correct seasonings, and you're done! Serve with rice or your choice of grain device. You can garnish with chopped green onion, cilantro, or basil if you so desire. Cut up a couple oranges and you have a complete dinner.

This served two of us easily, and left plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day besides. Yay, lunch!

What's your favorite kind of curry?