Serves 10 to 12
Active time: 15 minutes || Total time: 40 minutes
You know those food magazines that you flip through while in the checkout line at the supermarket? The ones you put back on the rack, all the better for knowing that you can make a casserole out of a can of soup and 35 egg whites? Yeah, well, I buy those magazines. All of them. It is my secret shame.
But this week a magazine cover gave me the chutzpah to do what I’ve always wanted to… put Thai red curry paste in everything. Or at least chili! To be fair, the magazine was Clean Eating, which usually has pretty awesome non-soup can ideas. And the original recipe was even vegan, so yay.
This isn’t their exact recipe, I just ripped off the idea (jeez, I have some integrity). It’s just as awesome as you would imagine if you threw together a Thai curry and a chili. OK fine, maybe that doesn’t sound awesome, but it was! I used red lentils for texture and kept the main ingredients as is: sweet potatoes and big meaty kidney beans. It’s really satisfying and blessedly easy so make it the next time you want to switch up your chili repertoire. It makes a lot so freeze the leftover and have chili whenever you want.
Olive oil (1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons, however much you feel like using)
1 large yellow onion, diced medium
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced medium
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 ½ lbs sweet potatoes cut into ¾ inch chunks
1 cup red lentils
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups vegetable broth
2 15 oz cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
1 15 oz can lowfat coconut milk
28 oz can diced tomatoes
½ cup fresh cilantro, plus extra for garnish
Limes for garnish (optional)
Preheat a 4-quart pot over medium heat. Saute onions and pepper in oil with a pinch of salt, for 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic and saute a minute more.
Add chili powder, sweet potatoes, lentils, salt and vegetable broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Let it boil for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. When lentils are cooked and sweet potatoes are tender, add the remaining ingredients and heat through.
Taste for salt and seasoning, top with cilantro and lime and serve!
This is my first time coming to this site and I did try this recipe. I give it two thumbs up – I used 3 tbspns instead of 2 for the curry paste. This made a HUGE pot – plenty of leftovers – flavour country 🙂 thanks for posting.
I tried this and it was VERY good. An non-vegan loved it and I can imagine for a hungry crowd not exactly freindly to vegan would LOVE it. Good job.Unusual ingredients, and easy. Gracias.
Made this tonight and loved it! The whole house smells like Thai. We’ve got a ton of leftovers. Just delicious!
Holy crap, Isa, this is great.
Made it. Loved it. Blogged it. Froze it. THANKS!
can you use soya milk instead of coconut milk for the thai source? If you have already answered this sorry.
Soy milk doesn’t have the same sweet creamy quality, but you can certainly try it. I would say if for some reason you don’t want coconut milk, cashew cream would be the next best thing.
I have angina and try to follow, when i can, a low fat diet as per McDougall, Esselstyn etc. Coconut milk is, I am told, very high in fat and so I was just wondering if there was something else I could use. Seems a pity not to try the recipe because of one ingredient but if that ingredient is important well …… and by the way hello from Wales.
Oh sure, I would actually just forgo the creaminess if that is your diet. The chili will still be very good, just more of a traditional red chili. If you can squeeze in even half the amount of lowfat coconut milk, though, that would be great, too.
Thanks for your time and advice. Appreciate it.
@Geraint, I made this without the coconut milk because I didn’t have any and my local grocery store was out… my entire family (meat eaters and veg alike) LOVE it. We have made it 3 more times so far. Just leave it out, it will still be really tasty and super healthy.
Chris – thanks for that. I will try without the cocounut milk. Don’t think my other half and kids will go for it though, although my wife just told me she was going to try taking soya milk instead of milk because of her gall bladder problem ( she does not have one anymore) so anything is possible I suppose. Cheers
Awesomesauce!!!!!!!!!! I think I can help my mom with this. Her vegetarian curry does not taste very good because it doesn’t have garlic or onions. What are other ingredients could replicate the taste of those spices?
We’re making this dish again tonight for probably the 100th time- everyone loves it! We have a house full of allergies (gluten, dairy, soy, and tree nut) so finding vegetarian meals are difficult but this one fits the bill! My one-year-old and two-year-old love it too!
I’m allergic to coconut – is there anything that would serve as a good substitute for it in this recipe and others like it?
Oh my goodness. This chili is amazing! My boyfriend and I have been talking about going completely vegan as apposed to vegetarian and this and all of your other recipes are making it seem so much easier! I remember when I was in High School my roommate wanted to be vegan and she was for a few months, she made this sweet potato ginger soup and it has forever been my favorite soup and I always talk about it. Anyway, when my boyfriend were talking about how much of a challenge it would be to become vegan I brought up that soup and said to him “with food like that it really wouldn’t be that difficult” and as I was looking at the books you’ve written I noticed the one that had that recipe in it that my friend used to make that soup! Sorry for the long rant I just want you to know your food has been a factor in my decision to become a full fledged vegan (aside from the obvious health and moral reasons). Thank you for all of your hard work!
YUMMY! A taste explosion. And so simple to make. I’ll be passing this recipe along! Has anyone tried freezing this? Any iuck? I find usually soups/curries/stews work pretty well in the freezer but wanted to know before I risk wasting any of this delicious concoction.
Absolutely delicious. I use parsnip instead of sweet potato (having a hard time finding any), and it works great.
I just made this, and it was excellent! I used adzuki beans instead of kidneys since I’m not crazy about kidney beans, and it was delicious! I wouldn’t have thought of this idea on my own, so thanks Isa for another brilliant recipe!
Mine turned out orange, but it is still fantastic!!! I can’t get over how much this recipe makes.
We just moved to Chicago and after eating cereal and microwave veggie burgers for our first weekend I am so happy to have some real food! Thanks a million!
After seeing the photo of this chili I knew I had to make it. I made it for a group of 8 female friends and they all loved it. I keep sending more and more people to your web site and have bought a few of your cookbooks for holidays. Keep up the great and yummy work. The meaty flavor of the kidney beans against the soft and sweet nature of the sweet potato was sheer bliss!
So much tastier than beef chili! The sweet potatoes really make the dish sing. Your blog has made going vegan very easy.
Holy Crap this was amazing! My favorite PPK recipe to date. Nom-nom-nom-nom-nom…
I made this and it was amazing. I added Garlic Chili Sauce for an extra kick. I will absolutely be making this more often.
Very good. Savory and spicy. Perfect for the cooler season. Thank you.
May sound like a silly question buy when you day chili powder do you mean the kind they sell that tastes like chili or the kind that tastes like chili peppers? I have both, the peppers kinds is from Indian market and the chili flavored kind is from regular grocery store. Both are same texture but flavor and color differ quite a bit. 🙂
ph my goodness. this is almost orgasmic. this is soooooooo good. i wanted to lick my bowl. i still might. i want to call around to strangers and tell them about this. like missionaries for this chili. your life will be changed by this. 🙂 so going into the steady rotation.
heaven in a bowl!!! only had one sweet pot so used that and a yukon gold. this one will be put into the rotation! thanks again!!!
Can I use panang curry paste? All I have… Thanks!!
I used panang curry paste in this last night, with green lentils and regular potatoes since that’s what I had. It was fantastic!!
I made this over the weekend…I cannot begin to tell you how yummy it was! I ate two bowls myself!! This will mos def be my go-to recipe from now on!! Thanks for posting!! 🙂
I can only get plain red curry paste, would that be okay? :s
Seriously. This stuff is AWESOME! Amazing. So healthy and creamy and just spicy enough. Even the 12 year old boy who HATES red peppers and tomatoes LOVED IT!!! How was I ever vegan before I found your cookbooks?
Delicious! So quick to make, so great to eat. My carnivore friend raved for 2nds too. Thanks!
Can’t stop eating this! Pure deliciousness!
I’m so glad that you posted this, because I saw this magazine and didn’t buy it! Now I wish that I had. Thanks for sharing your take on the recipe- can’t wait to try it!
I made this tonight and it was awesome! Even my picky 8-year-old thought it was delicious!
AMAZING!!!
This was awesome!! Will definitely be making this again!
This was a FABULOUS dish! Thank you!
Delicious, filling, tasty. My grown sons took most of it !! Guess I’ll have to make another batch. Thank you.