Roasted Eggplant Coconut Curry

Eggplant Curry is one of my favorite vegan dinners to make at home. Spicy coconut curry with eggplant, chickpeas, and lots of flavorful spices make this meal a year-round staple.

This simple recipe for homemade coconut curry has convinced me to say goodbye (for now) to take-out and jarred curry sauce.

Why not make curry from scratch when it's this simple and delicious to DIY?

Curry dishes have definitely become more of a staple on my table, so I decided it was about time I learn to make it from scratch.

Homemade Roasted Eggplant Coconut Curry is simpler than you might think! This delicious recipe is dairy-free, vegan, and completely plant-based and healthy.

For some reason, I always perceived that homemade curry would be complicated, time-consuming, and difficult to execute.

Thankfully, I was wrong.

This curry is ready in 45 minutes and doesn't require too many ingredients. (Many listed are just spices, so don't be intimidated by the recipe length!)  This meal is also freezer-friendly and can be batch cooked ahead of time for added convenience.

Homemade Roasted Eggplant Coconut Curry is simpler than you might think! This delicious recipe is dairy-free, vegan, and completely plant-based and healthy.

Homemade Roasted Eggplant Coconut Curry is simpler than you might think! This delicious recipe is dairy-free, vegan, and completely plant-based and healthy.

I've started to really get to know what I like best in my curry dishes.

For starters, curry needs to be packed with veggies. One of my favorite additions is Eggplant - I love the way it's spongy nature sops up all the flavors in the sauce. (Another favorite is potatoes.)

Most recently, I tried roasting the eggplant before cooking the curry and I'm in love with the results. The roasting process (with whole crushed garlic cloves) creates the eggplant that is extra sweet and flavorful.

My favorite curry sauces are also almost always coconut-based.

I just love the creaminess that coconut provides and look for coconut cream or full-fat coconut milk to really get the creamiest texture. (If you use a light coconut milk, you'll probably need to add less water.)

Homemade Roasted Eggplant Coconut Curry is simpler than you might think! This delicious recipe is dairy-free, vegan, and completely plant-based and healthy.

A flavorful sauce is also essential - I used a combination of coriander, turmeric, garam masala, cardamom, cinnamon, and cayenne.

But, if convenience is your top priority, you could also just stir in a curry powder and be done with it.

I could definitely see this curry recipe becoming a favorite staple dish around here. What's not to love about homemade curry that tastes better than take-out?

Homemade Roasted Eggplant Coconut Curry is simpler than you might think! This delicious recipe is dairy-free, vegan, and completely plant-based and healthy.

📖 Recipe

Roasted Eggplant Coconut Curry

Stephanie McKercher, RDN
Roasted eggplant and chickpeas are simmered in a spicy, Indian-inspired coconut curry sauce and served with rice.
4.20 from 42 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course entree
Cuisine Asian, Curry, gluten-free, Indian, vegan
Servings 4 people
Calories 450 kcal

Equipment

  • rimmed baking sheet
  • large skillet

Ingredients
  

  • 1 eggplant chopped
  • 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil or cooking oil of choice
  • 3 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil or cooking oil of choice
  • 1 onion diced
  • 2 teaspoon loose grated ginger
  • 1-15 oz can chickpeas drained and rinsed
  • 1 heaping cup tomatoes chopped (I used mixed grape heirloom tomatoes)
  • 1 cup full fat coconut milk
  • ½ cup filtered water
  • 1 tablespoon ground coriander
  • 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
  • 1 tablespoon garam masala
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
  • Cayenne pepper to taste
  • Black pepper to taste

For serving:

  • 2 cups cooked brown basmati rice
  • Fresh herbs (such as mint, cilantro, basil, and green onions)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400ºF.
  • Toss eggplant with grapeseed oil, crushed garlic, and salt and spread on baking sheet. Bake until browned, 20-25 minutes.
  • Heat coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and ginger and cook until tender, 5-6 minutes.
  • Remove eggplant from oven and add to skillet. Stir in chickpeas, coconut cream, water. tomato, and spices. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes.
  • Serve with cooked brown basmati rice topped with fresh herbs as desired.

Video

Keyword easy coconut curry, easy curry recipe, eggplant curry, vegan coconut curry

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20 Comments

  1. Nice recipe. Although is ur tablespoon of Garam masala and coriander meant to be a teaspoon? It’s extremely pungeant.

    1. Hi Prahlad, thanks for your feedback. I'll have to make this again to see if there could've been a mistake. In general, I like a lot of spices but encourage you to adjust the recipe to fit your tastes. Thank you for trying the recipe!

    1. Hi Emily, I haven't tested this recipe with peppers but it should work. Let me know what you think if you try it.

    1. Hi Kelly, thanks for catching this mistake! I do add the water along with the coconut cream and spices. The recipe is fixed now! 🙂

  2. 5 stars
    Loved this recipe. Thanks very much. I will make it once a week. I just have one question. If it’s called eggplant curry shouldn’t it have curry? It was simmering and it dawned on me - dude, where’s the curry? You didn’t put the curry in.

    1. Great question! Curry really just means a dish made when you simmer spices in sauce with vegetables or meat. Instead of using a single premade curry powder, you can also make your own curry mix with individual spices like I did here. The garam masala is sort of a premade mix, too, and you can use this in lieu of curry powder if needed. So glad you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂

  3. 5 stars
    I made this tonight and it came out great. Threw some wilting broccoli in at the end and eye balled some measurements but besides that followed the recipe exactly. will definitely make again

    1. Thank you so much, Erin! I love coconut + turmeric with pretty much everything! 🙂

  4. Curries are such an easy go-to for me! Any time I can bring out ALL my spices, I do and curry requires such 😉

  5. I roast eggplant all summer when my CSA share is bursting with these beauties - pinning this recipe to make for sure!

    1. Thanks, Deanna! I can't wait for this year's CSA bounty. Let me know how you like the curry! 🙂