Creamy Cauliflower Green Bean Chickpea Curry (oil-free optional)

Rich creamy nutty curry with a well balanced mix of whole plant-based ingredients. Pretty enough for company, this one pot meal is a feast for all of the senses. Serve with your favorite grain, fresh herbs and lime wedges.

WHY I LOVE IT

I happen to love creamy vegan curries in general. This recipe is as beautiful as it is delicious, synthesizing a variety of textures and flavors. Brightly colored smooth green beans stand in glorious contrast to sculptural chunks of cauliflower, while the chickpeas and carrots create a sweet earthy context. Peanuts, coconut and lime are always a winning flavor trio, especially when combined with curry powder. In this recipe I offer a whole food plant-based (WFPB) adherent version that replaces traditional canned coconut milk with homemade cashew cream flavored with a small amount of coconut extract. But you can always opt for the convenience of canned coconut milk if you prefer. Using cooking oil is also optional. You can choose to use a small amount of cooking oil to sauté the base vegetables if you’d like, or you can use the WFPB water sauté method, making this an oil-free recipe.

CASHEW CREAM VS COCONUT MILK

Again, feel free to skip the part of this recipe where you make your own cashew cream and use canned coconut milk instead. Reduced fat or regular canned coconut milk work equally well.

For many years, canned reduced fat coconut milk was my go to vegan substitute for heavy cream in many dishes. These days I’m trying to be as WFPB compliant as possible, so I’m avoiding it. I’ve tried making this dish both ways, with reduced fat coconut milk and with homemade cashew cream flavored with coconut extract. To my surprise, I prefer the taste of the more WFPB adherent cashew cream version. It is a little more work and you need a blender. The coconut extract is optional, but lovely if you like coconut flavor.

The overall nutritional profile is a little better with the cashews. A little less saturated fat, plus some fiber and protein that coconut milk doesn’t have.

If you go with the cashew version of this recipe, pre-soaking raw cashews overnight and straining is usually recommended. Soaking makes cashews easier to process in a not so high speed blender and removes phytic acid which can inhibit absorption of certain minerals. But if you have a high speed blender, soaking is not necessary for the texture, especially if you’re using cashew pieces instead of whole cashews. A good compromise is to cover your cashews in boiling water and let them soak for 20 minutes, strain, and add fresh water for making the cream. See my recipe for simple lemon cashew cream for more details on how to make an easy tasty, slightly tart cashew cream.

BIGGER BETTER CAULIFLOWER FLORETS

It’s easy to overcook cauliflower so it’s important to cut off the heat source as soon as your cauliflower is tender. Another way to prevent overcooking while ensuring good optics is to keep cauliflower florets as large as reasonably possible. If you’re using precut pre-washed florets, you’ll probably have many very small pieces of cauliflower no matter what. But at least leave the bigger florets big. In other words, don’t try to make cauliflower pieces uniform in size or shape. Overcooked cauliflower still tastes good, but for the sake of presentation, it’s best to avoid having most of your cauliflower dissolves into tiny pieces.

USING OIL IS OPTIONAL

This recipe offers the option to use cooking oil to sauté onions, ginger, garlic and carrots, the base vegetable. I realize that many people looking for creative and healthy plant-based/ vegan recipes are not necessarily interested in adopting a 100% whole food plant-based (WFPB) approach to food in which oil and other added fats are eliminated altogether. I commend the efforts of anyone interested in cooking more plant foods, and hope that my recipes are enjoyed by people who identify as plant-based, vegan, flexitarian, WFPB, or regular old omnivores. Each journey is unique and valuable. Some may be leaning heavily towards adopting a WFPB lifestyle but giving up all oil seems like a daunting task. This is understandable. Leaning in and being WFPB curious is how I got started myself.

It took a while for me to embrace the idea that you can sauté your food without using any oil. Even when I was already completely on board with the whole food plant-based life style approach, I felt like being 100% oil-free was for people who had non-stick pans, not for someone like me who prefers cast iron skillets and ceramic pots. So for a long time I kept using little bits of oil at the beginning of my sautéing process and then adding small amounts of water when things began to stick. I still use this hybrid method for some things, but I’m realizing that that little bit of oil at the beginning is usually not necessary at all. In fact, if you want a teaspoon or two of oil because you love the flavor of certain oils (think extra virgin olive oil or toasted sesame oil), you’ll get much more from your oil if you use it as a finishing oil in the final step of the recipe than at the beginning when you’re heating it up. But I digress. If you want to sauté with oil that’s perfectly fine.

HOW TO SAUTÉ WITHOUT OIL

Sautéing without using oil is easier and more effective than most people realize. The important thing to remember is that you’re going to need a decent amount of liquid, usually water or broth, standing by at the ready next to your cooking surface so you can add a little bit at a time as you go along. I like to use a pyrex measuring cup to hold my liquid because it has a spout and I can keep track of how much liquid I’ve used for future reference. How much extra liquid you need will depend on the recipe, but usually one cup of water or broth is more than enough.

I find that oil-fee sautéing works best over high heat. Begin by placing a pot or pan over high heat. Then add 2 to 3 tablespoons of liquid. As soon as the liquid starts boiling, add the food you want to sauté. Using a large wooden spoon or other heat-proof stirring utensil, toss the food around in the thin layer of boiling liquid just like you would if you were using oil. As soon as you notice that the liquid has almost completely boiled away, add another tablespoon or two of liquid and continue tossing until most of the liquid has boiled away again. Then add liquid, one to two tablespoons at a time, followed by tossing. Repeat this sequence as many times as necessary until food is cooked to the desired level.

In this recipe I use water to sauté the onions by themselves until they are almost but not quite transparent. Then I add the garlic, ginger and carrots and sauté, continuing to add water a little at a time as needed, until the onions are fully transparent and that carrots are slightly tender.

GARNISH OPTIONS

My favorite garnishes for this curry are lime wedges and chopped fresh cilantro. If you don’t like or don’t have cilantro, chopped green onions or basil are also good. Cilantro, green onions and basil all work well with each other so you could offer more than one and let people choose.

Chopped peanuts or toasted unsweetened coconut flakes are also wonderful toppings for this dish. Be creative and work with what you’ve got. Set out some mango chutney if that’s what you love with curry.

GRAINS ON THE SIDE

I prefer to serve this curry with rice on the side. Red or brown rice are my top picks to go with this dish but any kind of rice would work. If you prefer, you can opt for a less traditional grain such as quinoa, millet, farro, or bulgur wheat. Combining grains is another option. Brown rice and millet makes for a good combo as does quinoa and sorghum. Or you could take this curry in a different direction and serve it over rice noodles.

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