Chickpea and Lentil Curry (Vegan & Gluten-free)

This creamy chickpea lentil curry is an ideal lunch or dinner on your busy days. With staple pantry ingredients, you can make a healthy dinner at home in under 1 hour.

Make this vegan, gluten-free curry and enjoy it with rice, naan bread, quinoa, millet or serve it as a soup.

Ingredients

• Lentils: I used brown lentils in this recipe. And other lentils like red lentils or green lentils also work in this recipe. The only difference would be the cooking time of the curry.
• Chickpeas: We need to cook the chickpeas before making this lentil curry and use it, as chickpeas take longer to cook. You can use canned chickpeas as well. If using canned chickpeas, drain and rinse them to remove the excess salt.
• Spices:  I used basic spices like ground cumin, ground coriander, red chili powder, and garam masala powder. You can skip all these and use curry powder. 
• Coconut milk: I used homemade coconut milk in this curry. You can use canned full-fat coconut milk or other plant-based milk like soy milk or almond milk to make this lentil and chickpea curry. Coconut milk will make the lentils creamy, and you can skip them and use water or vegetable stock instead.

Stovetop Instructions

• Heat a deep-bottomed pot or skillet. Once it is hot, add chopped onions, bay leaves, chopped curry leaves, grated ginger, and garlic. Saute them for 3 to 4 minutes.

• Now add finely chopped bell pepper and saute it for a couple of minutes. I used yellow bell pepper, but any colored bell pepper works here. You can even skip it.

• Then goes the chopped tomatoes. I used fresh tomatoes, and you can also use tomato puree or canned tomatoes.

• Now add washed lentils and water. Cook it over medium heat for about 15 minutes. 

• Once lentils are almost cooked, add cooked chickpeas, coconut milk, spice powders - turmeric powder, ground cumin, ground coriander, red chili powder, garam masala powder, and salt.

• Simmer the lentils and chickpea mixture for 15 more minutes or until the lentils are cooked as per your liking.

• Creamy and delicious lentil and chickpea curry is ready to serve with rice or naan bread.

Instant pot Instructions

• Start the Instant pot in saute mode.
• Add oil, chopped onions, bay leaves, curry leaves(if using), grated garlic, and ginger. Cook them for 3 to 4 minutes, till onions turn translucent.
• Then goes finely chopped bell pepper. Any color bell pepper works here. Let it cook for 2 minutes.
• Now add chopped or canned tomatoes and mix everything well.
• Add the washed lentils and spice powders - turmeric powder, ground cumin, coriander powder, red chili powder, garam masala powder, and salt. Mix everything well.
• Add water and cooked chickpeas to the Instant pot inner pot. Stir it once and close the Instant pot with its lid.
• Switch off the saute mode and start the Instant pot in manual or pressure cook mode. If using brown lentils, cook them on high pressure for 10 minutes. If using red lentils, cook them for 5 minutes on high pressure.
• Once the Instant pot finishes cooking, wait for 10 minutes and manually release the pressure. You can wait for the natural pressure release also.
• Open the Instant pot, add coconut milk and mix the curry. And the creamy, delicious Instant pot chickpea lentil curry is ready to serve.

Recipe Notes and Variations

• This curry will be mildly spiced. You can use red chili flakes or ground black pepper powder to increase the spice level of this vegan lentil curry.
• Though I haven't used any veggies in this curry, you can add veggies like carrots, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini, and pumpkin.
• Leafy veggies like spinach, kale, collard greens, and swiss chard also go well in this chickpea lentil curry. Add the leafy greens at the end as they do not take much time to cook.
• To flavor the curry, I used curry leaves. If you do not have curry leaves, you can use any dried herbs or fresh herbs. If using cilantro, parsley, basil, or mint, add them at the end as you need not cook them.
• I used fresh tomatoes to make this curry. You can use canned tomatoes or tomato puree as well. If you want to use tomato paste, reduce it to ¼ cup as it is concentrated.
• If making this recipe using an Instant pot, you can reduce the quantity of coconut milk to 1 cup. If you prefer thin consistency, you can use more coconut milk or water.

Serving suggestions

Rice and lentils are a perfect combination, but you can also serve this chickpea lentils curry with naan bread, quinoa, and millet.
You can add more veggies to this curry and serve it as a dinner soup with a side of toasted bread.

Storage

You can store this lentil chickpea curry for 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator. And you can freeze it for up to three months.
Thaw the frozen curry and reheat it before serving. And do not freeze the reheated curry again. So I usually freeze them in portion sizes and thaw only the required portion.

You will love these other curry recipes on my blog as you are here.

Lentil spinach curry - Another lentil curry with spinach and coconut milk goodness.

Chickpea curry - Easy and quick chickpea curry with added veggies.

Black bean curry - Earthy flavored curry with black beans and basic spices.

Saag curry - Indian restaurant-style Saag recipe with spinach and basic spices.

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