This sweet potato and beetroot curry is just about the best vegan curry I've ever made. The roasted vegetables give it a delicious, earthy flavour and the spices bring the whole dish together to provide a wonderful vegetarian meal.
When I was in my twenties I did an Indian cookery course while travelling.
Those three days of the course were some of the best of my life. We learnt how to cook several classic Indian dishes in a small mountainside house over a kerosene stove.
Some of them - like idli and dosa - I am less likely to make at home. However, there are many - like the red lentil dhal for example - that have become part of my regular home cooking.
Sweet potatoes are not very common in Indian cooking.
Nevertheless this curry uses the same basic methods and ingredients that we used on that course and I think it makes a wonderful meal.
This curry is a great use for fresh beetroot
If you get beetroot in your veg box and you don't know what to do with them then this vegetarian curry is a great option.
Beetroots take ages to roast so I would recommend chopping them quite small - but it's well worth the wait for the flavour. If you use the pre-cooked beetroot you'll be missing out - trust me.
If you are lucky enough to have the stalks and leaves still attached to your beetroot then don't throw them away - they can be used in the curry too. However, don't worry if you don't have them - they're not essential.
This sweet potato and beetroot curry is also delicious with a tin of chickpeas added.
I hope you enjoy this recipe if you decide to make it - do let me know in the comments below.
Other vegan curry recipes
- Indian-spiced root vegetable curry
- Coconut green bean curry
- Aubergine and chickpea curry
- Potato and spinach (saag aloo)
- Sri Lankan okra curry
- Tandoori cauliflower curry
- Coconut dal
- Afghan pumpkin curry
- Easy one pot carrot curry
- Easy red lentil dal (on my other blog Sneaky Veg)
- Vegan tofu tikka
How to make sweet potato and beetroot curry
Roasting the sweet potato and beetroot before adding them to the sauce gives great results in this dish. However, if you're pressed for time you can steam or boil them instead.
If you have made this recipe and loved it please consider leaving a comment and rating below.
Please do not reproduce this recipe without permission.
Sweet potato and beetroot curry
Ingredients
- 3 beetroot peeled and chopped
- 3 medium sweet potatoes peeled and chopped
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
- 2 tablespoons sunflower oil separated
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon chilli flakes adjust to taste
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- Thumb sized piece of ginger chopped
- 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- Small handful fresh coriander chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (fan)/200°C/gas mark 6.
- Place the chopped beetroot into an oven proof dish and drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil. Add the mustard and cumin seeds. Stir well.
- Roast for 20 minutes then add the sweet potatoes. Stir after 20 minutes then return for a further 20 minutes or until everything is soft.
- Meanwhile heat the remaining oil in a saucepan. Add the cumin seeds.
- As soon as they start to turn brown add the onion. Stir often and cook until soft.
- Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric and chilli flakes. Stir and cook for a minute before adding the chopped tomatoes.
- Bring to the boil then simmer before adding the garam masala, the cooked vegetables and the coriander. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve with rice or bread and my personal favourite - lime pickle!
Notes
Nutrition
If you like this you might like this beetroot soup recipe.
Pin sweet potato and beetroot curry for later
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Sal
Made this today as the weather is starting to turn colder and I had some sweet potatoes and beetroot in my fridge. Really lovely. I boiled the sweet potato and beetroot instead of roasting but it came out really well. Its a recipe I will make again. The flavours really compliment each other. Thank you for a lovely recipe.
Cook Veggielicious
I'm so glad you enjoyed it Sal! It's so much quicker to boil the sweet potato and beetroot and I'm glad you got good results. Thanks for letting me know.
Manu Mahalwar
Main Ingredient SALT to taste was missing !
Cook Veggielicious
Thanks - will add that
Katie A
How do you use the beet stalks? I’m going to give it a go today 🙂
Cook Veggielicious
Hi Katie, you can chop up the stalks and fry them with the onions at the start. The leaves can be chopped and stirred through with the tomatoes. Let me know how it goes!
Gill
Ive done this recipe before and absolutely love it. I add fennel seeds to the roasting veg and fenu greek to the sauce for my own personal take. I’m calorie counting at the moment but am really in the mood for this curry tonight. Do you have a rough idea of the calorie count per portion? Thanks a million.
Cook Veggielicious
Hi Gill, I'm so happy to hear that you love this recipe - it's one of my favourites too! Fennel seeds and fenugreek both sound delicious. I've added in the estimated calorie count for you - you can see all the nutritional info on the recipe. It's coming in as 225 calories per portion (assuming it serves four). Hope that helps.
Gill
Thanks so much. Veg is roasting in the oven as I type 😁. Can’t wait to tuck in and delighted to hear it’s not higher cals - yay. Thanks again.
Gemma Martin
I have leftover roasted beetroot and sweet potato and I kept the stalks so going to try this tonight! Sounds delicious!! x
Cook Veggielicious
Fabulous - really hope you loved it
John Houston
One of the best––and easily the most beautiful––curries ever! Such pleasure to cook; my wife's favourite too. Thanks Mandy, Im going to roam your site every week.
Cook Veggielicious
Thanks John - it's one of our favourites too!
Caroline
This is a great way to use your veg box beetroot, in fact it's such a good recipe I ordered beetroot especially to make this again! I found roasting the veg was actually a good way of using my time as you can get on with making other dishes (or have a sit down and cheeky glass of wine) while the oven takes care of the cooking. The sauce comes together so quickly at the end of the roasting that there's no need to worry about planning ahead. And of course this dish is a fabulous colour so really attractive on the plate. Thank you Mandy for this super recipe 🙂
Cook Veggielicious
I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed this curry so much Caroline - it's one of my favourite recipes too!
Jane
Fab meal, I also added butternut squash and more spices. Was cooking for 8 friends and everyone loved this recipe.
Cook Veggielicious
Delicious! So glad you enjoyed this Jane.
James
Really enjoyed this recipe, thank you for posting it. Was at a bit of a loss what to do with the beetroot and sweet potatoes in the fridge, this was delicious!
Cook Veggielicious
So glad you enjoyed it James!