This Vegan Japanese Curry with Chickpeas is the perfect cozy dinner. With chunks of potatoes, carrots, and chickpeas all in a creamy flavourful curry sauce. It’s super easy to make in under 40 mins and you probably already have most of the ingredients in your pantry. Serve it with a side of steamed rice which soaks up all that delicious curry sauce.
This Japanese version of curry is a thick hearty stew packed full of warm spices that your family will love! Japanese curry is a blend of sweet and savoury and is not really spicy (which means your kids will devour it). When I think of comfort food I always gravitate towards a big bowl of curry over rice.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy to make with pantry staples
- Thick flavourful curry sauce
- Healthy and filling dinner
- Cozy and warm one pot recipe
- Leftover curry tastes even better the next day
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
Vegan Margarine: Feel free to substitute your favourite plant butter.
Celery: To add flavour you can substitute with white or yellow onions. I’m allergic to them so celery is what I prefer to use.
Garlic: An important ingredient it adds tons of yummy flavour, please do use fresh minced garlic.
Ginger: Garlic’s best friend in my opinion, I love the aroma when the ginger hits the hot pan.
Vegetables: I used carrots and russet potatoes.
Hot Curry Powder (yellow): This is a must in this recipe the hot curry powder that I use isn’t very spicy but it’s extremely flavourful. Keep in mind that different brands of curry powder will vary in taste. Make sure you’re using a curry powder that you love. If you can find Japanese curry powder called S&B definitely use that.
Garam Masala: Adds more depth of flavour and compliments the curry powder.
Canned Chickpeas: They make this curry hearty and packed full of plant protein.
No Chicken or Vegetable Broth: If you’re using low sodium broth you might have to season your curry more to taste. I love using the Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base concentrate paste.
Ketchup: Who doesn’t have this condiment in there fridge, this is the secret ingredient to making this curry taste so good.
Soy Sauce: Feel free to swap out tamari to make this gluten free.
Granulated Sugar: Balances out the warm flavours in this curry.
Frozen Shelled Edamame: Adds extra plant protein plus they taste amazing! Swap out frozen peas.
Cornstarch Slurry: To thicken the curry.
Salt: To season and bring out the flavour in the curry.
Step By Step Instructions
- Prep your celery, carrots and potatoes, by peeling and slicing into bite sized pieces.
- Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium high heat, add the celery, garlic and ginger. Cook until celery is translucent.
- Add the carrots, potatoes, curry powder, and garam masala. Cook for 2 mins or until the spices smells fragrant.
- Add the chickpeas, vegetable broth, ketchup, soy sauce, and sugar. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 10-15 mins or until vegetables are tender.
- Stir in the frozen edamame beans and cornstarch slurry.
- Simmer for 5-10 mins or until thicken slightly. If you find you want a more thicker curry, just add more cornstarch slurry.
- Taste and adjust salt to your preference.
- Serve on top of steamed rice and garnish with basil and sesame seeds.
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Cut the carrots and potato roughly about the same size so that they cook evenly.
- When you’re buying curry powder keep in mind that different brands will taste more flavourful than others. So you may need to add extra curry powder to your preference. The Japanese curry powder brand called S&B is a good one if you can find it at your asian grocery store.
- For a thicker stew just add a bit more cornstarch slurry and simmer until thickened further.
Frequently Asked Questions
In general people in Japan don’t usually eat spicy foods so curry in Japan is on the sweeter side. I like to balance the sweetness in this curry with a mix of ketchup and sugar.
Japanese curry usually calls for chicken but in my recipe I like to add a mix of chickpeas and edamame beans to bump up the vegan protein in this curry.
Yes just make sure you’re using gluten free soy sauce or tamari and you’re good to go!
Storage Instructions
Store in the fridge in an air tight container for 4-5 days. Curry tastes even better the next day making this the perfect make ahead meal with plenty of leftovers. Reheat in a pot over the stove or my preferred method is just heating in the microwave for a few minutes.
MORE EASY RECIPES:
DID YOU MAKE THIS JAPANESE CURRY WITH CHICKPEAS?
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Vegan Japanese Curry with Chickpeas
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegan margarine or butter
- 1/2 cup celery chopped
- 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 1 1/2 cups carrots peeled and sliced
- 1 1/2 cups potatoes peeled and diced
- 2 tbsp hot curry powder (yellow)
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1 can chickpeas 14 oz, drained/rinsed
- 4 cups no chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 cup frozen edamame beans
- Cornstarch slurry 1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp water
- 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
Instructions
- Prep your celery, carrots and potatoes, by peeling and slicing into bite sized pieces.
- Heat the margarine in a large pot over medium high heat, add the celery, garlic and ginger. Cook until celery is translucent.
- Then add the carrots, potatoes, hot curry powder, and garam masala. Cook for 2 mins or until the spices smells fragrant.
- Add the chickpeas, broth, ketchup, soy sauce, and sugar. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 10-15 mins. or until vegetables are tender.
- Stir in the frozen edamame beans and cornstarch slurry.
- Simmer for 5-10 mins or until thicken slightly. If you find you want a more thicker curry, just add more cornstarch slurry.
- Taste and adjust salt to your preference.
- Serve on top of steamed rice and garnish with basil and sesame seeds.
Video
Notes
- Cut the carrots and potatoes the same size so that they cook evenly.
- When you’re buying curry powder keep in mind that different brands will taste more flavourful than others. So you may need to add extra curry powder to your preference.
- For a thicker stew just add a bit more cornstarch slurry and simmer until thickened further.
This looks absolutely delicious, can’t wait to make it.
Thank you so much Cathy! Hope you like the recipe.
I just made this recipe for a weekend lunch with my family and it was a thumbs-up from everyone! My local grocery store was out of frozen edamame, so I had to substitute it with frozen peas, but it still turned out great! Thanks for sharing this visually enticing and delicious recipe!
Thank you so much Elcy! So happy to hear your whole family gave this recipe a thumbs up! Adding frozen peas is the perfect substitute for the edamame.