Easy vegan Indian-Spiced Skillet Chickpeas & Kale with Raita is made with budget-friendly ingredients. A one-pot recipe. Ready in 30 minutes.
Flavorful chickpeas and garlicky kale add an abundance of nutrients to this quick, pantry-friendly curry stir-fry. A favorite weeknight dinner.
This was inspired by my Chickpea Curry with Noodles on this site, as well as this 15-Minute Lentil Veggie Curry.
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👩🏼🌾 Ingredients
The ingredients for Indian-Spiced Skillet Chickpeas & Kale with Raita are both pantry and budget-friendly. The creamy and delicious raita is very versatile. Serve it with any of the curries on this website. I often pair mine with this Pantry Chickpea Pumpkin Curry.
For the skillet stir-fry:
- Neutral flavored cooking oil
- Cumin seeds
- Onion
- Garlic
- Chickpeas
- Garam masala
- Turmeric
- Coriander
- Tomato paste
- Kale
- Lemon
For the raita:
- Cucumber
- Unsweetened nondairy yogurt
- Cilantro
- Lemon juice
See recipe card for quantities.
📖 Instructions
Prepare the raita:
I prefer to keep the skin on the cucumber for added texture and color.
Place the grated cucumber into a large mesh strainer to drain excess water.
Choose an unsweetened yogurt for this recipe, such as almond, cashew, soy, or coconut.
Set aside for serving.
Prepare the chickpeas and kale:
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Briefly toast the cumin seeds in the hot oil to bring out their flavor. Stir constantly and be careful not to let them burn. Cook them until they are just fragrant.
Add the onion and cook until translucent before adding the garlic. Cook the garlic for another minute. Then add the tomato paste, stir constantly, and cook for about one minute more before adding the chickpeas.
Serve with a grain of your choice. Drizzle with the raita for serving.
🥬 Substitutions
- Kale - Instead of kale, you can use spinach, or a different chopped green of your choice. Add water only as needed.
- Chickpeas - use kidney beans or black-eyed peas instead of chickpeas
🥥 Variations
- Curry - add canned coconut milk to the dish along with the chopped greens as desired to turn this dish into a soupy curry
- Deluxe - add bite sized pieces of potato with canned coconut milk for a more substantial meal
- Spicy - add minced serrano pepper with the garlic
See this Bean Curry with Roasted Potatoes on my website!
🔪 Equipment
The largest holes on a box grater work well for grating the cucumber to make the raita.
⏱ Storage
Store the raita separate from the sautéd chickpeas and kale. Refrigerate in an airtight container. Good for up to 3 days.
These ingredients don't stand up well to freezing.
Cumin has a warm, earthy, slightly sweet and bitter flavor. It is an essential ingredient in Indian curries. It is also used in Latin American, Middle Eastern, North African, and Mexican cuisines, such as rice dishes, soups, stews, pickles, and chilis. Use cumin sparingly as its flavor can make the dish taste bitter.
Sauté ground cumin with the aromatics. For cumin seeds, add them earlier in the recipe and toast in hot oil to release their essence. In some recipes, you can use 1 ¼ tablespoons cumin seeds as a substitute for 1 tablespoon ground cumin and vice versa.
👩🏽🍳 Made This Recipe?
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I would love it if you would ⭐️ rate this recipe and leave a comment. Thank you in advance.
📖 Recipe
Indian-Spiced Skillet Chickpeas & Kale with Raita
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon neutral flavored cooking oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 30 ounces chickpeas (2 15-ounce cans) drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ teaspoons garam masala
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon coriander
- 1 ½ tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cups chopped kale
- 1 small lemon
Raita:
- 1 small cucumber ends removed
- 5 ounces plain almond milk yogurt or unsweetened nondairy plain yogurt (1 small carton)
- 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice plus more to taste
Instructions
- Grate the cucumber with the skin on using the larger holes on a box grater. Transfer the grated cucumber to a sieve and use your hands to squeeze out the excess water.
- Make the raita: Place the grated cucumber into a medium bowl. Add the yogurt, coriander, lemon juice, and salt to taste. Set aside.
- Toast cumin seeds and cook aromatics: Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Toast the cumin seeds for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
- Sauté and season chickpeas: Add the chickpeas and stir to coat with the oil. Add the garam masala, turmeric, and coriander and cook for about 1 minute more, or until fragrant, stirring constantly.
- Cook the kale: Add the tomato paste and cook for another minute, stirring constantly. Add ¼ cup water and mix to incorporate. Cook for 2 minutes more. Add the kale and cook for about 3 minutes, or until softened, adding more water as needed. Add lemon juice to taste and mix to incorporate.
- For serving: Stir the raita. Serve with the chickpeas and a grain of your choice.
Notes
- Substitute the canned chickpeas with 3 cups cooked.
- The cumin seeds can be substituted with ½ teaspoon ground cumin. Add the ground cumin with the onion.
- The raita can be substituted with nondairy yogurt. Cashew and coconut yogurt pair well with this dish.
Nutrition
This information is provided as a courtesy and is an ESTIMATE only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased can change the nutritional information in any given recipe.
Heather J
We were having a BLT dinner salad tonight and I was looking for a hearty side dish that felt carb-y but had more protein than bread or potatoes, and this definitely fit the bill! We already love garam masala, so I knew we'd love this, too. Garam masala is maybe not the first flavor profile one thinks of matching with turkey/lettuce/tomato/bacon, BUT not a chickpea remained when we left the table, and it was unanimously voted for me to save the recipe and add it into our side dish rotation. I made it first then did our salad, so we ate it closer to room temperature than hot, and loved it that way.
Nisha Melvani
Makes me so happy to read this. I'm thrilled you enjoyed this recipe so much. Thanks for commenting. Have a great day.
Suzan
This was absolutely delicious. So much flavour, loved the spices and textures. So happy there was enough for leftovers for lunch the next day. Loved it!
Nisha Melvani
Makes my day to read this. I am so happy it was a hit. Thank you for commenting.
Amina
I love the spicy curry flavour of this dish with the contrasting freshness of the raita. It's delicious. I have made it with spinach instead of kale and it's just as good. Makes a brilliant side dish too.