Mixed Vegetables in a creamy Spinach Curry! This vegan and gluten-free curry is made in the Instant Pot and flavored with coriander, cardamom, garam masala & coconut milk!

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 30 minutes
  • Total time: 45 minutes
  • Yield: 5
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon oil (or ghee, 15 ml)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 medium red onion (chopped)
  • 1 green chili (chopped)
  • 6-7 large garlic cloves (chopped)
  • 1 inch ginger (chopped)
  • 2 medium tomatoes (chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1/4 teaspoon red chili powder (or add more to taste)
  • 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
  • 3/4-1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
  • 1 lb spinach
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 large potato (cut into 1 inch pieces)
  • 1-2 medium carrots (cut into rounds)
  • 1/3 cup green peas (frozen & soaked in warm water for 5 minutes)
  • 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut milk (I used full fat)
  • 1 medium red pepper (sliced)
  • 1/2 lemon (juice of)

Method

  1. Press the saute button on the instant pot. Once it displays hot, add the oil and then add the bay leaf and cumin seeds. Let the cumin seeds sizzle for few seconds.
  2. Then add the onion, green chili, garlic and ginger. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes until the onions are light brown.
  3. Add the chopped tomatoes and deglaze the pot using your spatula. Make sure there's no burnt bits stuck at the bottom after sauteing the onions. Add the spices- coriander powder, garam masala, red chili powder and cardamom powder. Also add the salt.
  4. Start adding the spinach, little at a time. Add little and wait until the spinach leaves wilt and then add some more. Keep adding little by little until all the leaves are wilted. Then add 1/2 cup of water.
  5. Place a steamer basket on top of the curry. To the steamer basket, now add the cut potatoes, carrots and green peas.
  6. Close the pot with its lid. Press the manual or pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 4 minutes. Make sure the pressure valve is in the sealing position. Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes and then do a quick pressure release by manually moving the pressure valve from sealing to venting position.
  7. Open the lid and carefully remove the steamer basket from the pot. Also remove the bay leaf.
  8. Then use an immersion blender to puree the spinach. You can also use a regular blender, just wait for the content in the pot to cool down a bit before you put them in a regular blender.
  9. Once you pureed the spinach, add the coconut milk and stir and then press the saute button.
  10. Add the cooked veggies back into the pot along with sliced red pepper. Cover the pot with a glass lid and let the curry simmer on saute for 2 minutes.
  11. Add lemon juice and mix. Sprinkle some cardamom powder (optional) and serve mix vegetables spinach curry with rice or roti or quinoa.

Stove-Top Instructions

  1. To make this curry on stove top, follow all the steps as it is until adding the spinach. After you have added the spinach, cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for 10 minutes. Then puree the spinach and add water and coconut milk to the curry. Add the veggies and let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the veggies are cooked (cut the potatoes little small if cooking on stove-top so that they can cook faster).

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.