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Curry Tomatoes and Chickpeas With Cucumber Yogurt
Updated July 10, 2024
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- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 1½ cups full-fat Greek or Indian yogurt
- 3Persian or mini seedless cucumbers, finely chopped
- ¼cup basil or mint leaves, finely chopped, plus more for serving
- 1garlic clove, finely grated
- 1lemon
- Salt and black pepper
- ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1pint cherry tomatoes
- 1(15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and shaken dry
- 1½ teaspoons curry powder (see Tip)
- 3tablespoons raw (or roasted and salted pistachios), coarsely chopped (optional)
- Rice, focaccia or flatbread such as roti or doubles, for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium bowl, stir together the yogurt, cucumbers, basil, garlic and zest of half the lemon. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until Step 3. Cut the lemon into wedges for serving.
- Step 2
In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium until shimmering. Add the tomatoes and cook, shaking occasionally, until browned in spots and starting to burst, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the chickpeas and curry powder and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and most of the tomatoes have burst, 2 to 4 minutes. Turn off the heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Step 3
On a platter or in a wide shallow bowl, spread the yogurt into an even layer. Top with the tomatoes and chickpeas, followed by more basil leaves and the pistachios, if using. Serve with the lemon wedges for squeezing over. Serve right away, with rice or a flatbread.
- If you don’t have curry powder, use ½ teaspoon each of ground turmeric, cumin and coriander and a pinch of cayenne.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
A shake more turmeric and cumin and...heaven
5 out of 5 would make again. Quick, easy, versatile, flavorful! Made it with what I had on hand; a chopped beefsteak tomato, added in an Anaheim pepper I charred and peeled because I like some heat, doubled the curry powder ‘cause I’m heavy handed, used a regular ol’ cucumber that I partially peeled and cored, served with white basmati rice cooked with a tbsp of coconut oil. Served with Harrisa because I like the flavor. New favorite! (I know, I know, so many changes…)
I would serve it over cumin rice ( or rice cooked with some vegetables like green peas) and serve the yogurt on the side.
My favorite curry powder is called “Vandouvan Curry” and it is available from Kalustyan’s spices in NYC via mail order. It is from an area of India that was influenced by French cuisine and it has a flavor that says curry , but, with a “Merçi bookoo” accent. This looks perfect for summer!
Rebecca, I assume they mean to use a mesh strainer to drain and rinse the chickpeas, and then to keep shaking until the liquid is all gone and they’re mostly dry. Since chickpeas are kinda squashable, it wouldn’t do well to towel them off, and it probably would be overkill to lay them out on a towel to dry. Just get the rinsing water mostly gone.
Pistachios have a pretty neutral flavor and are small. Walnuts have a much stronger flavor (especially if they've been toasted) and are much bigger. When it comes to neutrality and small size, I think the best substitute for pistachios would be pine nuts or slivered almonds, as the article that accompanies the recipe suggests.
Used 2 TBS oil
I admit I had my doubts about this one- chickpeas over yogurt?? But it turned out to be a delicious and filling “dips for dinner” type meal. I didn’t have pistachios on hand so I used pepitas which worked fine. I trimmed the oil down to 3T but could have gone down to 2. Approved by my 5-year-old, so we’ll be making it again!
Wonderful dish. Will be upping the amount of curry powder next time to give it more kick. I also added some extra lemon zest to yogurt to strengthen the flavor.
Delicious light, summer meal! Used about 2 Tbsp of oil in a cast iron skillet and it was enough. Zest the entire lemon.
Cashews are a good substitute for pistachios in a curry dish, as are peanuts.
Strain them, then shake the colander to get any excess moisture from the chickpeas.
Make sure you follow the instructions and everything will be great.
Made this per the recipe, using mint from the garden. Delicious!
This is fantastic! As suggested, I added a smidge more curry and a tsp of dry harissa. Served with the basil, pistachios, and warm flatbread. Yum!
This is a great idea!
So, this is lovely. The first time I made it just like the recipe. But I used fat-free Greek yogurt the next time, and no reduction in yumminess! Based on the comments here, next time I'm adding more curry.
Made the recipe as directed with the exception of some chili flakes. Rather than rice I used Cauliflower, so delish! Also served it as a side along meatloaf. Very saucy and spicy and the yogurt balanced it all nicely. Will pass this recipe to friends.
Easy, fast, made of ingredients usually on hand already ….. and delicious! My new go-to dish for when I need to pull a meal together quickly. Thanks, Ali!
I followed the other suggestions and added more curry powder. I served over rice and made some naan bread from scratch. Next time, I would probably half the quantity of yogurt to prepare, I ended up having way too much left over.
This is surprisingly excellent! For 2 people with some leftovers, decreased the yogurt to 1 cup. Went to school on the comments and added some chopped ginger at the tomato stage (fresh market sun golds...) also added some cumin and kashmiri chili powder to the curry powder. Went with the basil option, served as written in the recipe over basmati rice. 30 minutes from start to table. Definitely a make again!
Pretty average. I tried to amp it up by adding some chopped red onion as it cooked. Reduced oil to 1-2 T. Used sunflower seeds which did add some crunch. Added a bit more tomato. I would make the cucumber sauce again as it was lovely.
15 ounce can chickpeas = 425 g
Over rice, surprisingly filling, feels like comfort food, loved it & so did 4 guests!
I love making this for days when I'm busy or just don't feel like cooking. The warm spices, melt-in-your-mouth tomatoes, and cool yogurt are quintessential summer. Sublime.
Loved this dish but would lower the amount of oil down to a few tablespoons.
This is delicious! I made it according to instructions— I did sub the individual spices instead of curry powder, which I didn’t have. But use the best ingredients possible. Tomatoes from the farmers market, or the freshest you can find at the store, and premium chick peas. I used Zyiad, which are meatier and drain better than the mushy (and cheap) store brands. The price difference is worth it! You could also double the tomato mixture since the recipe produces a LOT of yogurt mix.
This turned out better than I expected! The tomato and spices really give this dish a lot of depth. I’ll be adding to my rotation for sure.
This was surprisingly tasty given the few ingredients I used coconut yogurt because my daughter is vegan and we had with sliced peasant bread, toasted with EVO and salted. Delish!
Glorious summer meal. Easy, refreshing, and filling. Will absolutely make again.
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