This easy cashew curry is a rich and creamy curry that is a delicious addition to curry night. Made with only 10 ingredients, this plant-based curry is a versatile curry that your family is sure to enjoy.
Cashews in a curry? Say What????
Yes, it might sound odd to some…
But, we Sri Lankans have been a tad bit obsessed with cashews ever since the colonizing Portuguese brought them over to Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka) back in the 16th century or so.
We love to use cashews in everything from love cakes to curries like this easy cashew curry.
And, when it comes to cashew curry, my mom makes the tastiest, creamiest one. My mom usually uses curry leaves and a Sri Lankan spice blend in her curry. When we lived in Sri Lanka, every grocery store carried these items.
However, these items are harder to find here in Atlanta. My mom found a little South Asian store here in Atlanta where she gets fresh curry leaves from, And, she orders her Sri Lankan spice blend from a vendor in California.
I, however, like to enjoy cashew curry with ingredients I can find at my local grocery store. So, this recipe you see here today is my adapted version of Sri Lankan cashew curry.
It is an easy version of an authentic Sri Lankan curry made with readily available ingredients.
Why do we love this curry?
• This Cashew Curry is so creamy and so tasty.
• It is a plant-based / vegan curry that is a filling side dish when served with a lentil curry and some roti.
• You only need 10 ingredients to make this curry. In addition to oil, salt, and pepper, you will need an onion, some fresh ginger, garlic cloves, coriander powder, turmeric powder, smoked paprika, coconut milk, vegetable stock, tomato paste, and cashews.
• This curry can be ready in a little over 30 minutes. From sautéing the onions to ladling spoonfuls of this curry onto your plate, the total cooking time is 30 minutes exactly. But, prepping the onions, ginger, and garlic might add a bit more time to the total time involved in getting this curry on the table.
• It is a mild curry that you can choose to spice up. You can do this in one of two ways. One way would be to add in a teaspoon or two (depending on how hot you like it) of chili powder. The other way is to add in some chili flakes onto your portion of the curry, once it is prepared. That way, if someone in your family prefers a mild curry, you don’t have to cook two batches of this.
• You can also customize this versatile curry by adding vegetables to it. While traditional Sri Lankan cashew curry is made with cashews only, I have enjoyed cashew and vegetable curry in several Sri Lankan homes, during my early years there. You can add in vegetables like peas, spinach, or carrots, when you add in the cashews and let them simmer until they are tender.
This curry is an adapted version of traditional Sri Lankan cashew curry…
Traditional Sri Lankan cashew curry calls for the cashews to be soaked overnight and then used the next day. But, I’ve gotta admit, no cashews were soaked in making the curry you see here today.
Soaking the cashews will result in incredibly soft cashews when the curry is cooked. So soft that biting into the soaked and cooked cashews is like biting into a tender piece of jackfruit ~ like in this jackfruit curry.
As I like my cashews to have a bit of a crunch in my curry, I opt to skip soaking them overnight and let them simmer in the hot curry sauce for 20-25 minutes, which does soften them up quite a bit.
However, if you prefer, you could soak yours overnight or use the quick soak method like I did when making this no-bake cake.
I also opted to make this curry without any curry leaves or Sri Lankan spice blend as I cannot seem to find them in any local grocery stores nearby.
However, if you do happen to find them, you can use 2-3 curry leaves in this while sautéing the onions. And you can sub in 2 tsp of the Sri Lankan spice blend (just be mindful that Sri Lankan spice blends have a lot more spicy chili powder in them) for the coriander, turmeric, and smoked paprika blend I have here.
Did you try this recipe? Then please let me know in the comments below or share a picture of it and tag me on Instagram or Facebook.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 3/4 inch knob of fresh ginger
- 3 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 1 cup raw cashews
- salt and pepper to taste
- OPTIONAL – Parsley and red chili flakes to garnish
Instructions
- First off, prep the onion, garlic, and ginger by peeling the onion, ginger, and garlic, and then chopping them up well – but keep the onion separate from the garlic and ginger as you will cook the onion first.
- Add oil to a large frying pan and add in the chopped onion. Saute onion over medium heat/flame for 7 minutes, stirring often, until onion begins to brown slightly.
- Add in the chopped ginger and garlic and stir well for about a minute.
- Then add in the coriander, turmeric, smoked paprika, coconut milk, vegetable stock, and tomato paste and stir well.
- Add in the cashews and stir well.
- Cover the pan and let simmer over low flame for 20-25 minutes. If liquid evaporates and it is too thick for your preference, simply add in a 1/4 cup or so of water or vegetable stock and stir well.
- Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- If desired serve garnished with chopped parsley and/or chili flakes.
It looks delicious. Is if freezable?
@Julia, I also want to know the answer to this!
Simple to make, excellent flavors. It’s become a regular in my rotation, and even the kids like it! Sometimes I put cashews in, sometimes I serve with homemade red lentil tofu. Thanks for this recipe!!
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Hi, you mention about this being a side dish, so if I wanted to make it a main dish, would I double the recipe?
Hi Kate – yes you could double the ingredients – the main reason I said this was a side is as its best served with other protein and vegetable-rich curries so the meal has a more balanced nutritional value.
comment for recpiee:
what a great recipe I will surely going to try this.
but I love eating more than cooking so definitely my cook will make it for me.
thanks for the recipe appreciated keep up the good work.
RIS
I adore cashew nuts, especially in a curry. This looks so creamy and delicious.
I’ve heard of this but haven’t managed to try it yet, so looking forward to trying your recipe – it looks delicious!
Gosh this curry looks amazing. Never thought to have cashews as the main ingredient! This recipe is going on my meal plan for this week. Looking forward to it!
I have never had this before but I do love cashews. Giving this a try this week.
This is mine and my hubby’s favorite recipe now! So delicious and our favorite comfort food! Excited to make this again!
This cashew curry looks and sounds incredibly delicious!Can’t wait ti make it.
If I could eat this everyday, I would.
A recipe after my own heart. Looking forward to trying this version. Always love seeing your recipes.
This curry is bursting with so much flavor! I could eat a big bowl of it any time.
This is my kind of curry recipe! I’ve always used cashews as a garnish and I need to use it as the key ingredients, definitely trying it out this week
I have never had a cashew curry! It sounds and looks so good. Would it work with other nuts?
angiesrecipes
Hey Angie – I have made a brazil nut curry and brazil nuts worked well – but other nuts it would depend – nuts like peanuts might work well, but you might have to cut down the cooking time. I’m not sure if pistachios, walnuts, etc would work as well..but if you try, I’d love to know.
perfect for curry night indeed!