Warming, cozy, and brimming with goodness, this Easy Kidney Bean Curry is so simple to make and sure to put a smile on your face. It’s perfect for a quick weeknight dinner that the whole family will love! This hearty, filling dish is full of feel good ingredients, herbs, and spices. A totally delicious and satisfying meal that you will enjoy cuddling up with – yum!
Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients, and gluten free.
Hi there, Ameera here!
We love a great Indian dish. The Indian cuisine is full of warming spices, delicious flavors, and hearty veggies. We can’t get enough of Indian food these days!
While not the prettiest of dishes, don’t let that detour you – it tastes fabulous!
This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.
Garam Masala Powder
We love Penzeys Garam Masala Powder for this dish. You can certainly use your favorite Garam Masala blend or you can even mix your own to suit your own personal preferences.
Penzeys Garam Marsala is a blend of beautiful spices, but still gentle enough for kids to enjoy. Each brand has their own blend of spices and will change/influence the overall outcome of the dish.
If you want to kick up the flavor even more, feel free to increase the cumin, Garam Masala powder, chili powder, or add a pinch (or more) of cayenne pepper.
The beautiful of this dish is that it is totally customizable.
Jalapenos vs Cayenne Pepper
When purchasing jalapenos from the store, you just never know the heat level of what you are buying until you get it home and cut it open. Some really pack some heat and zestiness, while others are really mild.
We generally provide instructions to add cayenne pepper at the end of the dish because you just never know if the jalapeno pepper is really going to kick up the heat or be practically nonexistent relative to heat.
Don’t forget to taste test first and adjust heat level (cayenne) as needed. Add cayenne if you want a spicy boost or leave it out – totally your call.
I’ll let Mom tell you more!
Hi! Robin here.
As most of you know, in my previous life (prior to becoming WFPB) I was never an Indian food fan until Monkey started cooking Indian dishes for me. I just couldn’t get past some of the spices. Since going WFPB, my taste buds changed, now I absolutely love curry dishes!
Funny how that happens. Has it happened to you too? Once you flush out all those chemicals and recalibrate your taste buds, you start craving different foods and flavors – food that is healthy and good for you.
We really hope you give this deliciousness a try! We just know you are going to love it!
If you try this comforting dish, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
Interested in More Indian Dishes?
Products Used:
- Large ceramic/enamel lined Dutch oven, skillet, or similar large stock pot
Easy Kidney Bean Curry
- Prep Time: 10 Minutes
- Cook Time: 30 Minutes
- Total Time: 40 Minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Indian
Description
Warming, cozy, and brimming with goodness, this Easy Kidney Bean Curry is so simple to make and sure to put a smile on your face. Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients, and gluten free.
Ingredients
Base Ingredients:
- 1 cup yellow onions, fine dice
- 1 medium jalapeno pepper, fine dice *
- 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 Tablespoon minced ginger
- 1 – [ 14 oz. can ] petite diced tomatoes
- ¼ cup vegetable broth *
- 1 cup water (or broth)
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted almond butter *
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda *
Spice/Herb Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 Tablespoons dried minced onions
- ¾ teaspoon cumin (+/-) *
- ¾ teaspoon garam masala powder (+/-) *
- ¾ teaspoon mild chili powder (+/-) *
- Pinch turmeric
- ½ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
- 1 bay leaf
- Pinch cayenne pepper (optional) *
Other Ingredients:
- 1 – [ 15 oz. can ] kidney beans, drained and rinsed *
Optional Toppings:
- Fresh chopped cilantro
Serving Ideas:
- Steamed brown rice (or rice of choice)
Instructions
- Place the all the Spice/Herb Ingredients in a small bowl (except the bay leaf and cayenne pepper), mix well, set aside.
- In a large ceramic/enamel lined Dutch oven or skillet (or similarly large stockpot/skillet) add the diced onions and jalapeno peppers, sauté over medium-high heat until the soften, approx. 7 to 9 minutes.Add a splash of water (or broth) if needed, if the onions start to stick/burn.
- Add the minced garlic and ginger, stir constantly for 1 minute. Then add the Spice/Herb mix (except the bay leaf), stir constantly to allow the spices to release their fragrance, approx. 1 minute, then add all the remaining Base Ingredients and the bay leaf (except for the baking soda), stir well to incorporate, increase the heat and bring to a boil, add the baking soda, stir well, then immediately lower to a simmer for 3 minutes.
- After 3 minutes, add the kidney beans. Simmer for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to develop.
- Remove the bay leaf, then take an emersion blender (or mash with a fork) and blend about 1/3 of the mixture to create a stew-like thickness, stir well, simmer for 5 minutes, taste test, add cayenne pepper, if needed, then serve over rice topped with freshly chopped cilantro.
Notes
*Jalapeno Pepper/Cayenne Pepper: Jalapeno peppers come in varying degrees of heat. You may or may not need the cayenne pepper to increase the heat. We suggest leaving the cayenne pepper out until the very end to taste the final dish, then determine if you need it or not.
*Spices: The flavor/spices in this dish are at a moderate level. You can easily increase or decrease the spice levels based upon personal preferences. Our family was divided over the flavor palate, meaning some preferred different spices to be accented (increased) over others, so we split the difference. We suggest using the spice amounts indicated in the recipe, then after blending some of the beans, taste test and add additional spices at that time. If any are added, just simmer for a few more minutes to allow the flavors to develop.
*Chili Powder: Chili powders come in varying degrees of heat as well. We really enjoy Penzeys Regular Chili Powder. It has great flavor without the heat. Feel free to use your favorite chili powder.
*Garam Masala: Garam Marsala spice blends vary greatly with some accenting different spices over others. We really enjoy Penzeys Garam Masala-Punjabi Style. Feel free to use your favorite spice blend of Garam Masala.
*Vegetable Stock: We use Pacific Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Stock. We love this brand because it is Whole Food Plant Based compliant, as it does not contain MSG, has no oil, and does not contain any highly-processed ingredients.
*Baking Soda: Baking soda is often used as a neutralizer for dishes that contain a lot of acidity, typically from tomatoes. We use it in this dish to remove some of the tomato acidity (from the enchilada sauce) without losing the tomatoey flavor. When you add it, the mixture will bubble up, then settle down as it neutralizes the acidity.
*Unsalted Almond Butter: You can leave out the almond butter if you wish, or substitute with another nut or seed butter. The flavor will change accordingly, and you may need to ramp up or down other spices dependent upon choices made. Our recommendation is to leave the almond butter in the recipe or consider a slightly lower amount. The almond butter slightly tempers the spices, but more importantly removes any sharp bitter notes.
*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
*Serving: 4
*Storage: Refrigerate and use within 5 days.
This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.
I skipped the jalapeno and cayenne and did not blend (because I am lazy and also because I thought it was thick enough). I loved the recipe – my only suggestion would be to double it – great for meal prep!
Hi there Colleen 🙂
Yaaay! We are so thrilled that you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for sharing your awesome feedback and for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
made it and loved it; will be a regular on the menu. I liked that it did not have coconut milk in it, as so many curries seem to contain.
Hi there Alexandra 🙂
Yaaaay!!! We are so glad that you loved this recipe and plan to add it to your regular menu. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome feedback and for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
We are new to eating whole foods, plant based and this was excellent! Love this website-it’s been a great resource to help me find recipes for my family and change our lifestyle!
Hi there Jennie 🙂
Yaaaaay!!! We are SUPER excited that you enjoyed this recipe and so glad to be on this WFPB journey with you! It means so much to us that you and your family have been enjoying our blog. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome feedback and for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
This is amazing!!! I have yet to make one of your recipes that I haven’t completely enjoyed tremendously!
Hi there Chaos Queen 🙂
Yaaaay!!! We are so thrilled to hear that you enjoyed this recipe, as well as our other recipes! We appreciate you sharing your awesome feedback and for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
Wow, this was so good! Had it over brown rice and cauliflower.
Am definitely making this again!
Hi there Sandra 🙂
Woo hoo! We are SUPER excited you enjoyed this recipe. Brown rice and cauliflower sounds fantastic! As always we truly appreciate you sharing your wonderful review. Thank you so much for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂