One pan chickpea curry and rice bake
You guys seemed to really enjoy the one pot vegetarian chilli and rice bake I shared a couple of months back (was it really that long ago?!), and I don’t blame you. Vegetarian chilli and rice, complete with cheesy topping, all cooked in one big dish – what could be bad about that? There’s not even any pre-cooking required – throw all the raw ingredients (including uncooked rice!) into a dish, and stick it in the oven. An easy dinner that’s full of goodness.
A lovely reader suggested I make a curry version, which I thought was a brilliant idea – so this one pan chickpea curry and rice bake was born. A simple vegetable and chickpea curry with rice, all cooked up in one pan. Simples.
If you ever have any ideas for recipes that you’d love to see, please do let me know – I’m always happy to oblige!
As with the chilli bake, this chickpea curry and rice bake involves no pre-cooking at all – you only need to spend a couple of minutes chopping vegetables, and it’s ready to go into the oven. I used mushrooms, a red onion, and a red pepper, along with a tin of tomatoes to help cook the rice, but you can switch up the veg if you like. Just remember that if you do go off-piste, and you use any particularly hard veg (carrots, for example), you may need to do a little bit of (shock horror) pre-cooking first.
After an hour or so in the oven, you’ll have perfectly cooked rice and soft veggies – it’s a bit like a biryani really. Just scoop it out onto a plate, top it with some fresh coriander (cilantro), and dinner is sorted.
This chickpea curry and rice bake doesn’t have a cheesy topping like my chilli bake did, so you may decide it needs a little something extra on the side to add a bit of interest. Here I added a dollop of plain yogurt, but some raita or a dollop of mango chutney would both work really well too! And don’t forget a few poppadoms for scooping.
One pan chickpea curry and rice bake
Ingredients
- 150 g (~ 2/3 cup) uncooked long-grain white rice
- 5 medium mushrooms, diced fairly small
- 400 g tinned tomatoes (~ 1 1/3 cups)
- 400 g tin chickpeas, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
- 1 bell pepper, diced (I used red)
- 1 red onion, diced
- 2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- Black pepper
- 150 ml (generous 1/2 cup) vegetable stock
- To serve: fresh coriander (cilantro), and a dollop of plain yogurt, raita or mango chutney (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F).
- Add all of the ingredients to a large baking dish (mine measured around 11 x 9 inches), and mix thoroughly. Remember the rice will expand as it cooks, so make sure the mixture doesn't completely fill the dish at this stage.
- Cover the dish with foil, and bake for around an hour, or until the rice is fully cooked.
- Serve with fresh coriander (cilantro), and a dollop of plain yogurt, raita or mango chutney, if desired.
Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for 1/4 of the recipe, not including toppings or sides.
Omg just made this recipe and it’s fabulous thank you so much. Even my two non vegan teenagers loved it. X
Thanks Maria, glad you all enjoyed it! :)
I’m becoming a big fan of you and your recipes. I’ve made 6 or 7 of them now and they all are excellent. I’m a low sodium vegetarian and appreciate you including the nutritional information. This particular meal was very tasty and so easy to make. My wife loves the recipes also.
Thank you so much Gary! So glad you’ve enjoyed all my recipes, I hope you find many more :)
Do you drain your tinned tomatoes or add them with the liquid?
With the liquid :)
Hi!
I tried this tonight and it was utterly delicious! I used easy cook brown rice (from Aldi) – it took 10 extra minutes and a dash of extra water – I also added a few handfuls of spinach – just scrummy! Thank you for a fantastic, easy new staple! :)
Awesome, thanks Zoey! Great to know it works ok with brown rice too :)
Hi, Becca,
I tried this last night, and it was tasty, like always! Thanks for your great recipes!
Thanks Nicki! :)
I definitely want to try this! Do you think doing it with brown basmati rice would either require a pre-boil or a longer bake time in the oven?
Hmm, I’m not sure – I would definitely be wary of it not cooking properly in the oven. A pre-boil is probably a better option :)
This sounds like it would work in a slow cooker
Maybe! I haven’t tried it. It’s quite easy to overcook rice in a slow cooker, so I would be aware of that, and also you may need less liquid :) Worth a try though!
This sounds delicious! I’m on Slimming World and I’d be able to eat as much of this dish as I wanted so i’ll definitely be adding this onto next weeks shopping list. Thanks
Interesting! I don’t know much about Slimming World. Hope you enjoy it :)
Chick peas are so versatile – love one pan suppers too!
This is the kind of dish I make a lot, although for some reason when I add rice i do it in a cast iron pan and all the others in the oven. I must take your lead and do my next one with rice in the oven. It looks gorgeous Becca. Sharing it now.
Thanks Jac! I’ve never quite figured out cast iron!
I love one pot dishes and this is a perfect dish. I can’t wait to try it.