Name: The Best Vegetable Curry
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 2 tbsp neutral oil; 1 large yellow onion, diced; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated; 2 tsp ground cumin; 2 tsp ground coriander; 1 tsp turmeric; 1.5 tsp garam masala; 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes; 2 tbsp tomato paste; 1 medium (about 12 oz) sweet potato, peeled and cubed; 3 cups cauliflower florets; 1 can (13.5 oz) full-fat coconut milk; 1.5 cups vegetable broth; 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed; 4 cups packed baby spinach; 1 tbsp lime juice, fresh; 1.5 tsp, to taste kosher salt; 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (for serving); as needed cooked basmati rice (for serving)

The Best Vegetable Curry

Prep

15m

Cook

30m

Total

45m

Bigly says

Vegetable curry. Vegetable curry! The BEST one, not a 'pretty decent' one, not a 'serviceable Tuesday' one — THE BEST. And I know what some of you are doing, you're squinting at the screen, you're saying, 'Bigly, you eat everything, why are we doing a meatless thing?' Because vegetables, when treated with RESPECT, become something tremendous. Something huge. Most cooks — sad cooks, tired cooks, cooks who quit on themselves at 5pm — they don't respect the vegetable. They boil it. They steam it gray. They serve it limp on a plate like a confession of failure. A disgrace to the vegetable. A disgrace to the dinner table.

My grandmother — and she was a tough woman, the toughest, she could intimidate a head of cabbage into surrendering — she taught me something about spices that food chemists agree on now, decades later. You toast them. You bloom them in oil. You let them sizzle until the whole kitchen smells like a spice market exploded in the best possible way. Raw spices in a sauce taste like dust on a tongue. Bloomed spices taste like a song. She didn't put it in those words. She put it in a wooden spoon and a very specific look that meant 'do it the right way or sit down.' I have been doing it the right way ever since.

Now let me tell you about coconut milk, because many people don't know this and it is a CRIME how few people know this. Coconut milk — full fat, ALWAYS full fat, never the 'light' stuff which is water with a memory of coconut and a dream of better days — is one of the greatest ingredients on Earth. It thickens. It carries the spice. It hugs the sweet potato. It turns the chickpea from a sad pellet into a tiny golden hero. We are using a full can because half measures are for half chefs. End of discussion.

Ingredients

2 tbspneutral oil
1 largeyellow onion, diced
4 clovesgarlic, minced
2 tbspfresh ginger, grated
2 tspground cumin
2 tspground coriander
1 tspturmeric
1.5 tspgaram masala
1/2 tspred pepper flakes(more if you like heat, less if you're a coward)
2 tbsptomato paste
1 medium (about 12 oz)sweet potato, peeled and cubed
3 cupscauliflower florets
1 can (13.5 oz)full-fat coconut milk(full fat, always full fat, never the light stuff)
1.5 cupsvegetable broth
1 can (15 oz)chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 cups packedbaby spinach
1 tbsplime juice, fresh
1.5 tsp, to tastekosher salt
1/4 cupfresh cilantro, chopped (for serving)
as neededcooked basmati rice (for serving)

Steps

1
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly golden at the edges.
2
Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook 1 minute until fragrant.
3
Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, garam masala, and red pepper flakes. Toast in the oil, stirring constantly, for 60-90 seconds until very fragrant — do not let them burn.
4
Stir in the tomato paste and cook another minute, smearing it into the spices.
5
Add the sweet potato and cauliflower and stir to coat in the spice paste.
6
Pour in the coconut milk and vegetable broth. Add 1 tsp of the salt. Bring to a gentle simmer.
7
Cover partially and simmer 15-18 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sweet potato is fork-tender.
8
Stir in the chickpeas and simmer another 3-4 minutes to heat through.
9
Add the spinach in handfuls, stirring until wilted. Stir in the lime juice. Taste and adjust salt.
10
Serve over basmati rice, topped with fresh cilantro.

One more thing

That's the whole curry. One pot, forty minutes, a dish that fills the whole house with a smell people will text you about. Spoon it over rice, every grain coated, no naked rice on this watch. And refrigerate the leftovers because tomorrow's lunch is going to be even better — the spices keep developing overnight, statisticians have run the numbers, I had a guy with a PhD explain it to me once and it took ninety minutes and it was worth it. Save me a piece.