This one pot eggplant, pumpkin and chickpea curry recipe is really special to me, because it was recently shared by Wholefoods’ Instagram account, which made me incredibly proud. I know there’s a very thin line between bragging and telling, but let me just say that there is nothing better than seeing your work being recognized even across borders. Thank you Wholefoods, for featuring my curry. If you knew how much time my family spends in your markets whenever we’re in the United States, you’d know how much this feature has meant to me.
As Christmas is just around the corner, I feel like I’ve been eating so many sweets and heavy German winter dishes recently, that I needed something lighter this week. I thought some of you would appreciate a dish that is not technically Christmas related, because there’s only so many Christmas dishes that you can make in a week.
I’ve already shared two different types of curries before, but those were all Thai curries that needed Thai curry paste as a base. This curry, however, needs to Thai curry paste because it is more of an Indian curry. And it’s amazing. Seriously, there is no easier way to make a healthy, wholesome meal than to make this curry. Curries are great weekday meals, because they require minimal chopping, and you can simply toss everything together and wait until its ready. Also, you absolutely don’t have to stick to the recipe when it comes to curries, which I really like about them. It may not seem like it, but I am a big improviser in the kitchen, and before I started this blog I could never get my dishes to taste the same every time I made them. A little new flavor here, a little fresh herbs there and you have a whole new taste experience.
This eggplant, pumpkin and chickpea curry happened because those ingredients were literally all I had left in the kitchen. If you don’t have all of the vegetables or legumes in the recipe below, then feel free to add whatever you still have in the fridge. I do love the pumpkin squash in this curry, so I would suggest that you use this to get the best results. You can also garnish this dish with some fresh mint or coriander leaves to make it even more special. 
- 1 small hokkaido pumpkin
- 1 eggplant
- 2 red bell peppers
- 3 large handful of fresh spinach
- 1 can of chickpeas
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
- 2 teaspoons of ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons of ground turmeric
- 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds or ground cumin
- 1 small chili
- 1 tablespoon of homemade or store-bought vegetable stock paste
- 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cans (800g) of diced tomatoes
- 2 cans (800ml) of coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons of tamari or soy sauce
- brown rice to serve
- Wash eggplant and red bell peppers and chop them into bite-sized pieces. Cut the pumpkin in half, remove the seeds and cut into bite-sized pieces as well. Wash the chickpeas under running water. Place everything into a dutch oven or large saucepan.
- Finely chop the garlic, or crush it with a garlic press. Finely chop the ginger. Remove the seeds from the chili (be sure to wear rubber gloves!) and cut it into small pieces.
- Pre-heat the oven to 200 °C (390°F),
- Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a small frying pan over high heat. Add the garlic, ginger and chili and sauté it on medium heat for about 2 minutes. Add spices and another tablespoon of olive oil and sauté for another minute. Be sure not to let it burn. Add the dices tomatoes, vegetable stock paste, coconut milk and tamari, and bring to a boil.
- Pour the coconut-tomato mix over the vegetables and place the dutch oven into the oven. Cook at 200°C (390°F) for about 30 minutes. If you don't have a dutch oven, you can place everything into a large saucepan and let the curry simmer at medium heat for about 30 minutes on the stove. The next steps are identical no matter if you are using a dutch oven or saucepan.
- In the meantime cook the rice according to instructions on the package and wash and dry the spinach.
- Once the curry is done, place the spinach into the dutch oven or saucepan and stir with a wooden spoon until it is wilted. This should not take more than 3 minutes.
- Serve the curry with rice and add more spices or vegetables stock paste according to taste.
Enjoy!
Das sieht sehr lecker aus! Ich glaube ich werde das Rezept demnächst nachkochen. Lauter Zutaten, die ich alle sehr gerne mag.
Liebe Grüße, Sarah
Hallo Sarah, das freut mich sehr! Hoffe das Curry schmeckt dir!
Liebe Grüße,
Lynn
Curry is my favourite, and this one looks particularly good! Yummy!
Nourishing Amelia | Food, Health and Lifestyle Blogger
Hi Amelia, thank you so much! You can never go wrong with a good curry, right?
xx Lynn
Wie witzig, gestern habe ich ein total ähnliches Curry aus Kürbis und Auberginen gekocht. Allerdings habe ich die Kokosmilch durch Sojajoghurt ersetzt, war auch seeehr lecker!
LG Farina
Echt? Great minds think eben alike 😉
Sojajoghurt vertrage ich nur leider nicht, aber ich kann mir vorstellen, dass das genauso lecker war!
Liebe Grüße,
Lynn
I love curries and this one looks delicious! 🙂
Thank you so much!
Lynn, this is beautiful, cozy, winter perfection – yum!
xx
Thank you so much, Kate! Have a wonderful Christmas, my dear!
xx Lynn
Wow this was good. I’ve been looking for exactly this curry flavored recipe for years. None of the other recipes I’ve tried have managed to capture that decadent creamy curry flavor.
This is one of those rare occasions where the recipe is better than the awesome picture.
Thanks so much!
Hi Sarah! wow – what an ode to my curry! So happy you tried the curry and loved it! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this feedback – it’s much appreciated!
xx Lynn
If I can’t find this particular pumpkin in my local stores, do you recommend any other pumpkin or squash varieties?
Butternut squash would also work perfectly! Hope you’ll find this at your local stores.
xx Lynn
I made this a few weeks ago. I didnt have pumpkin, so I used butternut squash. We had it over rice – 5 stars! I thought it was incredibly good ??
Thank you so much for the curry appraisal! So glad to hear that you liked it!
xx Lynn
Thank you for sharing this recipe! It looked so sunny and yummy that I had to try it. Check out the end result on our blog @ kiddielicious.com.
Hi Anja,
I’m so glad you liked the recipe. Yours looks so delicious, too!
Lots of love,
xx Lynn
Made this dish, this past Sunday and it was AHmazing. Though I substituted the pumpkin for sweet potatoes (didn’t have any pumpkin readily available) and added sweet onions the end product was as perfect as the original recipe. Very easy to follow recipe with a wellness of balanced flavors. Didn’t have a dutch oven, used a sauce pan as suggested and allowed the flavors to marry a little longer than outlined. I give this recipe two thumbs up, will be incorporating in my monthly rotation. Thank you for sharing your passion with ours. 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing this with me! I am so happy you like the recipe, and that it seems to be modifiable, too.
Lots of love,
xx Lynn
I needed to combine ingredients on hand into something worthy to take to a dinner, so I googled eggplant, chick peas and sweet potatoes and ended up here, and soooo glad i did, awesome! It’s simmering in the crockpot right now and we will eat it tomorrow, but it smells delicious! Thank you!
I love this curry recipe so much it is now my go-to recipe! Quick question – do you put the Dutch oven with or without the lid? I have been cooking it without the lid but wanted to check.
Hi Diana,
I always put the lid on – it’s interesting to hear that it works without the lid as well :).
So glad to hear that you love this curry so much, it’s also one of my favs!
xx
Lynn
Ah… this recipe uses one dutch oven, one frying pan and one saucepan for the rice…..
Not really a one pot recipe then???
No, that’s right. But it still tastes good 🙂
Tried this the other night and it was so delicious and much easier to make than I expected! thanks for sharing 🙂
Great recipe, thanks!
Made this today after finding the recipe on google. It was amazing! I hope you can do an English version of your cookbook soon!
Hi Sarah! This makes me so happy! I really REALLY hope that it will be translated into English!
xx
Lynn
This looks amazing! Any idea of calories per serving?
Is it possible to use canned pumpkin purée? If so how much would you use?
Hi Kirsty,
I’m not sure as I’ve never dried it. Pureed pumpkin would thicken the curry, which isn’t intended. You could also use sweet potato instead of pumpkin if you can’t find fresh ones anymore.
Hope this helps,
xx
Lynn