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This easy cauliflower chickpea and spinach sauté features a fragrant Mustard seed & Curry Leaf Sauce – an easy vegan meal that is ready in under 45 minutes. Packed with healthy cauliflower, creamy chickpeas, and superfood spinach in every bite. Grain-free and gluten-free! Jump to Recipe
Coming at you with a dish that is as simple as it is delicious! Could I possibly interest you in some cauliflower, chickpeas and spinach? And South Indian flavors!
In my book, these ingredients are just about the greatest things ever. Toss them in a pan with a delicious mustard seed and curry leaf sauce and serve with quinoa, rice, or have it as-is and you’ve got yourself a simple dish that is sure to please. Toasted mustard seeds, Urad dal lentils, crisp curry leaves, and Sambhar masala add a fabulous complex flavor. An unexpected, sensational combination of simple ingredients that makes for a well-rounded recipe that is a must-try!
You got your iron, you got your protein, you got your vitamins. Check, check, check.
Ingredients for making this recipe:
- oil – pick one with a neutral taste and high smoking point.
- mustard seeds – When crushed, they are quite pungent. However, if they are roasted they turn nutty and sweet. They can be yellow, white, black or brown. Yellow and white mustard seeds are often used interchangeably. Black and brown seeds have greater potency of flavors than the lighter variety
- Urad dal (split black gram) – a little black seed with a white interior that is similar to a mung bean in size and shape but tastes entirely different. It has been eaten in India for thousands of years and has an earthy flavor. The split and skinned beans are off white in color. You can use moong dal instead.
- curry leaves – these are important for the flavor of this dish so it’s worth it to search them out at a South Asian or international grocery or order some online. Use them in curries, stir-fries, or simple dishes of roasted or grilled vegetables It can be rubbed onto anything before grilling or stirred into mashed potatoes enriched with vegan melted butter. You can buy some fresh in bulk and freeze and use directly from the freezer!
- garlic – always
- cauliflower – make sure to ch0p it into in small florets
- chopped tomato or 1 large tomato as a base for the sauce
- chickpeas – either canned and drained or cooked chickpeas
- spinach – frozen or fresh works.
- sambhar masala – a South Indian Spice mix. You can find my “home blend” recipe in my first cookbook. There are many versions based on the region and family recipes from states in Southern India. If you cannot find it anywhere and don’t want to make it from scratch, use 1 tsp ground coriander +1/8 tsp cayenne as a shortcut.
Tips for making this recipe:
- Cut the cauliflower into small florets to allow for even cooking.
- We add the garlic towards the end, after frying the spices, so that it does not brown and turn bitter. Keep an eye on it.
- Buy fresh curry leaves. Leftover fresh curry leaves can be frozen and there is no need to defrost before cooking with them. Once cooked, curry leaves are entirely edible, though most people simply push them aside on the plate. Avoid dried curry leaves, which have much less flavor or aroma.
How to make Cauliflower Spinach and Chickpeas with Mustard Seed Curry Leaf Sauce:
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, wait until hot. Add the mustard seeds wait for them to pop, add lentils and cook until golden, then carefully add curry leaves and mix
Add the garlic, and mix again.
Put the cauliflower in the pan and toss making sure it’s well-coated. Let the cauliflower cook 4-5 minutes uncovered until partially browned.
Add in the tomatoes and 1/2 cup of water and mix well. Cover everything and cook for 6-8 minutes. Now, add the spinach, chickpeas, sambhar masala, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup water. Mix everything well and let cook another 6-8 minutes. Stir once in a while, until the cauliflower is cooked to preference.
As a finishing touch, add some pepper flakes to taste for heat and garnish with cilantro.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
- Salad – Serve with a simple Cucumber Tomato Onion Salad
- Bread – Serve with Whole Wheat Naan, or Gluten-free Naan.
- Rice – this would go well with my lemon rice
- Vegetables: More veg? Always! Have a veggie feast by pairing this with Roasted Brussels Sprouts or Sesame Garlic Broccoli.
How to store this spinach and chickpeas sauté.
Leftovers can be covered and kept in the fridge for up to 3 days
MORE CHICKPEA RECIPES
- 1 Pot Chickpea Sweet Potato Spinach Curry GF Soy-free
- Veggie Chickpea Coconut Korma GF soyfree
- Mangalorean Chickpea Curry GF soyfree
- Butter Sauce Chickpeas– GF
- Spanish Chickpea Stew. GF soyfree
- Harissa Chickpea Sweet Potato stew. GF soyfree
Cauliflower Chickpeas and Spinach in Mustard seed Curry Leaf Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tsp oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp Urad dal, ,split black gram , or use moong dal
- 10 curry leaves, , fresh or frozen
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small head cauliflower, chopped into small florets
- 1 cup chopped tomato or 1 large tomato, chopped small
- 15 oz can chickpeas, drained or 1 1/4 cup cooked chickpeas
- 6-8 ounces spinach, frozen or fresh
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sambhar masala, or use 1 tsp ground coriander +1/8 tsp cayenne
- 1 cup water, divided
Instructions
- Heat large skillet over medium heat, add oil and wait until hot. (You want the oil to be pretty hot else seeds won’t pop). Add the mustard seeds wait for them to pop.
- Add the Urad dal lentils and cook until golden, then carefully add curry leaves and mix well.
- Add garlic, and mix again quickly.
- Put the cauliflower in the pan and toss making sure it's well coated, then let cauliflower cook 4-5 minutes uncovered until partially browned
- Add the tomatoes and 1/2 cup water mix well, then cover and cook 6-8 minutes.
- Now add the spinach, chickpeas, sambhar masala, salt and remaining 1/2 cup water.
- Mix well and let cook for another 6-8 minutes, stirring once in between, until the cauliflower is cooked to preference.
- Add the pepper flakes to taste for heat (if needed) and garnish with cilantro (optional)
Notes
- Cut the cauliflower into small florets to allow for even cooking.
- We add the garlic towards the end, after frying the spices, so that it does not brown and turn bitter. Keep an eye on it.
- Buy fresh curry leaves. Leftover fresh curry leaves can be frozen and there is no need to defrost before cooking with them. Once cooked, curry leaves are entirely edible, though most people simply push them aside on the plate. Avoid dried curry leaves, which have no flavor or aroma.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Wow! This looks so tasty. I can’t wait to try it! thanks a lot!
Awesome !! thank you so much for your feedback. I’m excited for you
Can this be eaten by itself or need to serve with quinoa or rice or roti?
Absolutely could be enjoyed all on its own – especially with the chickpeas
Made your African stew looooooooved it
Thank you
This was outstanding! I really enjoyed the flavor of Urad. Wonder if I could use them to make a curried dip?
Love this dish.
This salad looks yummy and delicious, maybe i will replace Cauliflower with some other things.
Thank you Richa for sharing this recipe.
sure, why not? =)
Hi Richa,
I made this recipe last night and it was awesome! I live in the Bay Area of California so I find all of the indian spices, including fresh curry leaves easily. I had the heat up too high when I was cooking the mustard seeds and urad dal, and was kind of bummed, but no matter it did not ruin it. I used garam masala and it was fine. Next time I will add a bit of Cayenne to it. My hubby added it to his at the end. I will make this again for sure! I served it with brown rice and did put cilantro on top and that was a great addition! Now I have a huge bag or urad dal and mustard seeds as I could not find anything smaller!
Keep the killer recipes coming!
Chris-
Awesome! Yes depending on your pan and stove it might take time for the oil to be hot enough to pop the mustard seeds. Glad you loved it! There are several mustard seed recipes on the blog , try all of them 🙂
I made this a couple of nights ago, and it was a little bland. So I’m going to tell you what I did so you can avoid my mistakes.
1. I used white mustard seeds. I had brown ones, and I should have used brown ones.
2. I used much less cayenne and salt, because my husband has a sensitive stomach. When I reheated the leftovers, I added more salt and cayenne.
3. I used red kidney beans because somehow, I was out of chickpeas. I’m never out of chickpeas. This substitution worked out just fine and looked very pretty.
4. I used dried curry leaves. I cannot find fresh or frozen curry leaves, and the dried ones did not have enough flavor. Once COVID-19 is over, I am going in search of fresh curry leaves.
5. I used one can of tomatoes, drained. I suspect fresh tomato might have tasted better, but this worked out fine.
6. I did use fresh spinach, and that worked great.
My takeaway is that you really need fresh curry leaves for this one.
That’s great that you figured how the changes added up. Yes it’s a subtle flavor dish. There’s amazing flavor from the mustard seed curry leaves toasted lentils etc, but it’s not in your face and the flavor definitely will come through more witb fresh curry leaves. Dried barely have flavor. Hope you can get some soon!
Mustard seeds and curry leaf sauce sounds so interesting . Have to try this recipe richa.
Ooh. This looks delicious as always! Can I ask what brand of skillet you are using? I’m on the hunt for s a new one and yours always look to work very well. Any advice you have in that department would be much appreciated!!!
ecolution and IKO are a couple of my favs. I have a link to them and others here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/veganricha
https://www.amazon.com/shop/veganricha