Vegan Peanut Chicken Curry with Rice
In the office the other day, we talked about which blog recipes we would cancel our planned home office day for and instead drive to the office if they were available for lunch. Lina decided without a second thought that she would hop on her bike for her beloved cabbage and onion pasta. For Sarah, it's definitely our creamy vegan salmon pasta and for Sóley it's this peanut and chicken curry, which we're finally sharing with you today.
As you may have noticed from time to time, I am by far the biggest peanut fan in the office. Whether it's bread with peanut butter, any peanut snacks, peanut dips and sauces or simply a spoonful of pure peanut butter from the jar – count me in! And although we really do have a lot of curry recipes on our blog, it was time for a peanut variant. A few weeks ago, a friend told me about a peanut curry he had eaten and said: „You'll probably like it too; it had lots of peanut butter in it.“ The next day, I was already in the kitchen and started developing the recipe.
We use vegan chicken in the recipe. If you can't find any in the supermarket or don't want to use it, the dish also works great with natural tofu. However, we recommend marinating the tofu the day before so it has plenty of time to absorb the marinade's flavor. If you don't have time for this, you can also do it on the same day. We grind the ginger and garlic marinade in a mortar. Again, it doesn't matter if you don't have one – just use a blender or chop the two ingredients very, very finely.
Now we come to the star of the recipe, which you shouldn't leave out or replace: The one and only sugar beet syrup from Goldsaft. It's great spicy note makes it perfect not only for sweet dishes but also for savory ones, such as this peanut curry. The syrup consists of just one ingredient, sugar beet, and is therefore naturally vegan. All the sugar beet that Grafschafter uses for processing comes from the local area and is processed in the German Rhineland. We can no longer imagine our kitchen without it.
If you would rather use sugar beet syrup for a sweet recipe, we can highly recommend our nut-filled easter bread crescent rolls or vegan brioche with a swirl.
Vegan Peanut Chicken Curry with Rice
Ingredients
For the peanut curry:
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 20 g (0.75 oz) ginger
- 1.5 tbsp plant-based milk
- 1.5 tbsp vegan butter
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 3 tbsp sugar beet syrup (e.g. from Grafschafter)
- 180 g (6.33 oz) vegan chicken
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 red onion
- 2 tsp red curry paste
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 400 ml (1.66 cups) coconut milk
- 4 tbsp natural peanut butter (100 % peanuts)
- 300 g (10.5 oz) frozen spinach
- salt
For serving:
- 200 g (7 oz) basmati rice
- 50 g (1.75 oz) peanuts
- chili flakes
Instructions
Peel the garlic cloves and ginger, cut into large pieces and crush in a mortar. Place both in a bowl with the plant-based milk, melted vegan butter, curry powder and one tablespoon of sugar beet syrup and mix well. Cut the vegan chicken into strips and add to the bowl. Mix everything well and leave to stand for approximately 30 minutes.
Cook the rice according to the packet instructions.
Peel and chop the onion. Heat the coconut oil in a pan and sauté the onions, chili flakes and red curry paste until the onions are translucent. Add the marinated chicken and fry until lightly browned. Add two tablespoons of sugar beet syrup and caramelize briefly over a medium heat.
Add the coconut milk and peanut butter to the pan and stir well. Add the spinach and simmer until the spinach has defrosted. Season to taste with salt and curry powder.
Roast the peanuts in a small pan until lightly browned.
Serve the curry with rice, roasted peanuts and chili flakes.
Tip: For a gluten-free version, you can replace the vegan chicken with tofu.
