Black Bean Curry

Black bean curry is full of irresistible flavors from the fragrant warm spices that envelop the black beans in a sauce made of tomato and coconut milk.

I absolutely love a homemade curry that is quick, hearty, nutritious, and filling. This easy black bean curry is exactly that. I've made it several times over the last couple of weeks to ensure that I give you the best recipe. Each time, I've received comments like "that was epic" or "that is so good". Those words are music to my ears.

I usually serve it on a bed of basmati rice with peas or with turmeric and a side of cucumber onion salad.

The whole meal is indeed epic. In fact, I now do these pairings with most of my other vegan curries, such as my peanut butter and coconut milk curry, lentil chickpea coconut curry or my sweet potato spinach chickpea curry, all of which are so flavorsome. I'm trying to stick to one weeknight where curry is served.

Key Ingredients

I didn't have any dry black beans, so I used two cans of organic black beans. I rinsed and drained them before adding them to the curry, which equals 2¾ cups. This homemade black bean dip is also a great way to use up this ingredient.

I diced fresh onions and tomatoes small, and crushed fresh garlic, which I softened in water instead of oil (you can use oil if you prefer). I don't miss it in this curry recipe.

To reduce the acidity of the tomatoes and tomato paste, I added a little coconut sugar, but any type of sugar will work.

The creamy component is from the addition of a whole can of coconut milk to the sauce.

The Spices

As mentioned, I love making weeknight curries, so ground spices are my go-to and these include:

Ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili flakes and garam masala.

I do love to see some specks of green in this dish as I feel the color needs a little contrast, so I also use a few sprigs of cilantro (fresh coriander) - oh yum!

The Steps

Over medium-high heat, add a couple of tablespoons of oil in a pot and add the diced onions, sweat until lightly golden, then add in the diced tomatoes and soften until most of the tomatoes are mushy.

Add a few more tablespoons of water as needed to avoid dryness.

Stir through the crushed fresh garlic for about a minute then add the tomato paste, sugar, salt and spices.

Continuously stir these for another minute, if you need to add more spoonfuls of water do so.

Add the black beans, chopped cilantro (fresh coriander) water and coconut milk.

Give it a stir, cover and bring it to a soft boil, then turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

The sauce will thicken slight whilst simmering. Serve warm over a bed of rice.