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Easy 1 pot Mango Curry Chickpeas. This Mango Curry is creamy, mangoey and perfect when paired with chickpeas, vegetables or baked tofu. Easy and so flavorful. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Nut-free Recipe.
Mango Curry with Tofu from my first Book has been one of the popular dishes that gets made again and again. I see it many times on Instagram. This is a lightly adapted version of that mango curry. This easy onion, spice and mango curry is simmered with chickpeas and served over rice, grains or with flatbread.
I use canned mango puree from the Indian store for curries as very ripe mangoes can be hard to come by.. The raw-ish or sour-ish flavor might affect the overall flavor balance. Right now with approaching Summer, certain types of mangoes are pretty ripe and they do well in this recipe. Use chickpeas, veggies, baked tofu (use mango curry tofu recipe instead), lentils, lentil balls, kofta balls or other beans in this sauce.
Make this super quick and easy curry. And serve it over rice/quinoa, make a bowl with roasted veggies, fill up tacos for a summery fusion meal. Garnish the tacos with cilantro chopped red onion, chopped tomato. Loads of flavor and all the pleasing notes of sweet, savory, mango, chickpeas and creamy!
More quick curries from the blog. And a bunch more in my book.
- Butter Tofu – Tofu Butter masala curry
- Mushroom Matar Masala
- Bombay Potato and Peas
- Tofu Pasanda
- Tofu Matar Masala
- Tofu in Spinach Curry – Saag Tofu
- Vegetable Jalfrezi – Veggies in smoky tangy curry
Troubleshoot: The sauce depends on many factors to come out just right. Well roasted onion puree (else the sauce will taste of raw onion), fresh garam masala and other spices(garam masala depending on the brand can be very mild or very pungent, adjust to preference) and simmering for long enough. The recipe also uses whole spices, so the flavor gets stronger the next day.
If you make this recipe, do let me know how it turned out. Also do tag me on Instagram!
Video:
Mango Curry Chickpeas
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup chopped red onion, heaped
- 1 inch knob of ginger
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon safflower or other neutral oil
- ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon or more Garam Masala, or use 1/2 tsp ground coriander and generous pinches of ground cloves, cardamom and black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon or more cayenne
- 1¼ cups canned or culinary coconut milk
- ¾ cup ripe mango pulp or puree, unsweetened or lightly sweetened canned
- ½ teaspoon or more salt, depends on if the chickpeas are salted
- 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas, drained if canned
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, optional
- Generous dash of cayenne, Garam Masala, chopped cilantro, for garnish
Instructions
- In a blender, combine the onion, ginger, and garlic and blend into a smooth puree with 2 tablespoons or more of water. Alternatively, mince the onion, ginger and garlic and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds and cook for 1 minute or until the seeds change color. Add bay leaves, and cloves and cook until the bay leaf changes color.
- Add the pureed onion and cook until the onion mixture is dry and does not smell raw (if you dont cook the onion long enough the sauce will taste oniony in the end). Stir occasionally to avoid sticking, 8 to 10 minutes (Cook time will be shorter with minced onion etc vs pureed.). Add cinnamon, garam masala and cayenne and mix well. Add the coconut milk, mango pulp, salt, and mix well.
- Mix, cover and cook until the sauce comes to a boil, 5 minutes. Add chickpeas and mix in. Reduce the heat to low medium and cook uncovered until the sauce thickens and desired consistency is achieved, 10-15 minutes. Taste and adjust the salt and tang. Add lemon or vinegar for tang, add 1/2 tsp sugar or maple for sweetness if the mango was not sweet enough. Add a dash of black pepper. At this point you can fold in some baby greens. For creamier, fold in some vegan cream (cashew cream, soy cream etc).
- Remove the Bay leaf and discard. If you can find the whole cloves, fish them out and discard. Garnish with cilantro and a good dash of garam masala and cayenne and serve hot over rice with roasted vegetables, or with flatbread. You can also add some cubed ripe mango as garnish.
Video
Notes
Fold in spinach in the last 5 minutes.
Use a cup of vegetables and a cup of chickpeas, instead of all chickpeas.
Use lentils, lentil balls, kofta balls or other beans. For Tofu, use Mango Curry Tofu recipe that adds spice to the tofu. To sub whole spices (cumin seeds/whole cloves) Use ground spices (1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/8 tsp ground cloves) and add them to the pan when you add garam masala. Onion garlic mixture sometimes turns green depending on the pan, age of the onion and garlic and other factors. The mix is edible, the curry will just look grey brown in the end.
To make mango puree from ripe mango. Peel and cube a very ripe mango. Blend with a few tbsp of water until it is a smooth puree. Nutritional values based on one serving
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Richa, I appreciate your recipes very much and plan to purchase your book. Tried the sriracha granola (amazing when one is tired of traditional sweet granola) and really want to try your Indian vegan desserts because I am lactose intolerant and my SO has a casein allergy.
I happened to have cooked a big batch of chickpeas and made this recipe with some modifications. I had some frozen mango on hand as well as some coconut cream that comes in solid blocks. I whizzed it together in the vitamix with water instead of using canned mango and coconut milk. Delicious! Thank you for the recipe.
I made this for dinner tonight and added simple baked tofu and fresh spinach leaves. It smells amazing and my tasting samples are delicious. Can’t wait to serve it with some brown rice and quinoa. This recipe was also fun to make and I combined spices I hadn’t before. I wonder if Richa does anything besides cook and invent recipes:)
Awesome! haha, nope this is what i do. I dont want to call it a job, coz then deadlines, planning etc all crop up. I like the way i work now with free flowing ideas 🙂
Hi Richa,
I love your recipes, especially your curries, and I’m just vegetarian! I love cooking too and thought that maybe sumac would work in a mango curry?
it might work. Add a little bit and adjust more to preference.
This was soo goood! Thanks for sharing 🙂 i loved the mango sweetness and cinnamon especially 🙂
One question, on your photo it looks so bright and yellow..mine came out quite brownish… is that due to the cumin (i used powder instead of seeds)…
Kind regards, Judy 🙂
yes it could be the spices, the pan, browning onions etc. See the video. the sauce is brownish in the video version. I made it again for the photos and the onions were not as brown. Also the photos get enhanced with extra saturation for the web display to look vibrant. That saturates some of the subtle colors.
Can this be frozen?
yes, for upto a month. Freeze in a container that doesnt leave too much air on top. or cover the top of the food with plastic wrap to reduce freezer burn. Reheat and serve. Add in some liquid if needed for consistency while reheating.
Loved this curry! It might be the best one I’ve ever had! Thank you so much for this recipe 🙂
yay!
I made this dish last week with fresh mangoes– just lucked out to get organic , ripe mangoes from my local grocer. Anyway- fantastic flavor. I used Indian chickpeas -chahn I think they are called. Brown, smaller, earthier , and also more fiber-ish than the buff-colored and big American Chickpeas. I roasted eggplant and zucchini for a side and sprinkled turmeric, mace, safflower oil, lime juice along with salt and pepper while these roasted in the oven. Both dishes were served with white basmati rice. I love Vegan Richa’s Indian dishes and cook from her Indian book 1- 3 times weekly.
Awesome!
Same here. Mine started blue but ended up green! :s
I mention it in the comments that it can happen because of old garlic or other reasons. You can avoid it by mincing the garlic and onion. See a detailed explanation here. https://www.seriouseats.com/2013/08/ask-the-food-lab-why-does-my-garlic-turn-green.html
That’s great to know, thanks for the link Richa.
Little bit of chemistry going on there!! 🙂
I made this with (very ripe) fresh mangos and it turned green! ???? Any idea why?
I mention it in the notes of the recipe ” Onion garlic mixture sometimes turns green depending on the pan, age of the onion and garlic and other factors. The mix is totally edible, the curry will just look grey brown in the end.”
See a detailed explanation here. You can avoid it by mincing the garlic and onion https://www.seriouseats.com/2013/08/ask-the-food-lab-why-does-my-garlic-turn-green.html
Interesting, thanks! I’ll keep that in mind next time. Still tasted yummy, just not as pretty as yours.
I made this just now and it tastes so great! Of course you have to adjust the taste at the end to your liking, I added juice of half a lemon, some curcuma…the only thing I couldn’t reach is that nice orange color ???? How did you achieve that?
I used canned puree. That is usually a deep orange color (see video), so it makes the whole sauce orangey. Also see video for the real time color when the sauce is simmering, it isnt as pronounced as in the pictures. its light brown orange. You can add some turmeric for additional yellow orange.