40 Indian Curry Recipes

Here is a collection of 40 best Indian vegetarian curry recipes, including some vegan curries. Curry is a main course and a quintessential part of Indian cuisine. These Indian curry recipes are simple, easy, and quick.

Best Indian Curry for Everyday Menu

Indian Cuisine is a broad term because everything in India is Indian cuisine. However, there are significant differences in the dishes and preparation, and regional culture and taste are strongly influenced. North Indians have specialty food, and South Indians have their own culture and food. The same is true for East and West.

North India is very popular in terms of its cuisine. North Indian Foods is a joy to eat, rich and satisfying, though not complicated or tricky. Some are more creamy in texture, and some are simply stir-fried or sauteed veggies, greens, etc. But both types are delicious in flavor.

Indian vegetarian curries usually are flavorful with the perfect blend of spices. They are simple and easy to prepare, but when you taste them, you can feel the unique flavor of all the spices. Even if you are new to cooking, you can easily prepare them.

Check out Indian Flatbreads also. These will go with any of the curry recipes here.

Indian Curry Recipes

Potatoes play an essential role in most Indian cuisine, especially in everyday food. They are the hero ingredient in many curries. Potatoes are stuffed inside flatbreads (aloo paratha), inside bread (bread rolls/ bread pakora), inside pooris (aloo kachori), added to curd as raita (aloo raita), or even cooked as many sweet dishes (aloo halwa).

Similarly, to keep our diet balanced, we add a lot of vegetables to the menu. My typical plate contains Indian dahl/ dal, fried/sauteed vegetables or with gravies, and some accompaniments like raita, salads, etc.

Basic Indian Curry Paste/ Indian Curry Sauce

This is the basic curry paste used in almost every Indian recipe we use daily. I make them in advance and refrigerate them for the week. This saves a lot of time.

You can add spices specific to that recipe to this basic curry paste. For example, add chole spices or chana curry spice mix for chole masala to this basic curry paste. This speeds up the cooking.

So the list is vast. I may keep adding a few more in future posts.

List of Indian Curry for Everyday Cooking

I will divide them into two categories: dry sautéed or stir-fried vegetables and curry with gravy.

I. Dry Sautéed Vegetables

1. Aloo Gobi (Sauteed Cauliflower & Potatoes)

Aloo gobi is the most common yet most loved dish in North India. This is a dry sauteed dish. Potatoes and cauliflower florets are cooked and sauteed dry with aromatic Indian Spices. This goes well with roti, poori, paratha, and even dal rice.

2. Aloo Baingan (Sauteed Eggplants & Potatoes)

Aloo baingan fry is another typical everyday dish. This dry sauteed vegetable can be a main course or a side dish. It tastes excellent with paratha. It can be made either in the cooker or in the pan. After all, the magic comes when we use all the spices for this recipe.

3. Bhindi Do Pyaza Masala (Spiced Dry Lady finger Fry)

Bhindi do pyaza is different from that of the bhindi fry. In this recipe, onion is twice the quantity of bhindi or okra. Hence, this is named Bhindi Do Pyaza. To make this do pyaza, stir-fry the okra first and then add this to the cooked onion paste. This Punjabi dish is best served with roti paratha, etc.

4. Baingan Bharta (Mashed Brinjal)

Baingan bharta is an easy dish. There are three steps to make yummy baingan bharta: 1. roasting brinjal in a direct fire, 2. preparing the masala paste (along with added spices), 3. then, in the end, mixing both roasted eggplants with spiced onion tomato paste. Add some green peas for a better taste. This was my favorite recipe during my college days. This is an easy and quick recipe.

5. Aloo Methi (Sauteed Fenugreek Greens & potatoes)

This is a winter special recipe. Methi Aloo is a quick and easy dry sauteed vegetable. This dish cooks fenugreek greens (methi), and potatoes with some simple yet aromatic Indian spices.

To save cooking time, use boiled potatoes for the dish. Similarly, replace methi with spinach leaves or palak to make aloo palak. Garlic is essential in adding flavor to aloo methi or aloo palak fry.

6. Bhindi Fry (Okra Fry)

This is an easy and quick everyday dish. The cauliflower is fried with carom seeds. Add some chopped potatoes to make aloo bhindi.

This dry dish is different from bhindi masala and bhindi do pyaza. You may make it the main course with roti or paratha or as a dish with your dal rice. This is a simple yet tasty dish on your everyday menu card.

7. Kashifal ki Sabzi (Pumpkin fry)

Kashifal ki sabzi, or it's often known as Khatta mitha kaddu, is a pumpkin dish with a natural sweetness. You can add some more jaggery to bring in extra sweetness. If you don't like sweetness, skip it. I don't add it usually. This dish tastes great with spicy, sweet, and tart flavors.

8. Bombay Potatoes

This is a quick recipe that is close to my heart. You can have it with whole baby potatoes or cubes of larger potatoes. Boil potatoes and saute with magical spices. Garnish with coriander leaves. There is a similar recipe without spices—simple yet delicious Aloo Jeera.

9. Gajar Aloo Matar (Sauteed carrots, potatoes, green peas)

This is one of my favorite winter unique recipes. I make this in the same way as Aloo Gobi sauteed. Since we get fresh red carrots in winter in India, I make them only in winter. So, this is a perfect everyday dish in winter. However, you can also use frozen peas. You can also add cauliflower to the dish. These veggies are sauteed with onion, ginger, and garlic and mixed with other spices.

10. Stir-fried Cabbage and green peas

This is also the main course of dry sauteed vegetables. I have taken cabbage, green peas, carrots, and potatoes. This is an easy and healthy dish. This goes well with roti or paratha. You can add beetroot to this.

11. Stir-fried Potato & capsicum (Aloo Simla Fry)

This is stir-fried potatoes and capsicum. It's an easy and quick dish. This goes well with roti, poori, paratha, etc. This easy recipe doesn't take more than 20 minutes.

12. Lauki Bhujia (Grated Bottle Gourd)

This is a fantastic low-carb dish. Lauki bhujia is perfect if you follow a weight loss or keto diet. Lauki or bottle gourd is grated and sauteed with onion, tomato, and other spices. This tastes delicious, and at the same time, it's healthy as well.

13. Bharwa Karela (Stuffed Bittergourd)

Karela, or bitter gourd, is known for its bitter taste. This bharwa karela is stuffed with pickle spice mix and onion paste cooked with other spices. This can be a main course item with roti or paratha or goes well with dal rice as a side dish. I love the bitter taste of karela. Store this in the refrigerator for about a week or ten days.

14. Bharwa Baingan

This bharwa baingan is made with the same spices as bharwa karela. It is incredibly delicious and perfect as a side dish or main course. You can also dip the shallow-fried stuffed eggplants in gravy.

15. Torai Sabzi (Ridge Gourd Curry)

Torai, again, is a low-carb vegetable. This is prepared with regular spices and is perfect for the everyday menu. It's one of the quick vegetable dishes. Torai is rich in water content. Hence, it helps with weight management and weight loss. Even if you follow the keto diet, you can consume this as it is one of the best low-carb dishes.

II. Indian Vegetarian Curry and Gravy

1. Aloo Matar Curry (Potato and Green Peas Curry)

Aloo matar curry is the most common and easy main course curry, and it takes less than 15 minutes to prepare. To make this recipe, potatoes and green peas are cooked with aromatic spices. This is an easy and quick recipe. You can make this in a pressure cooker (manual or instant pot) or a pan/ Dutch oven. However, if you are using pre-boiled potatoes, it will save lots of your time.

2. Aloo Tomato Curry

This potato curry in tomato-base gravy is simple and one of my favorite curries. Usually, we make this with only cumin seeds and other spices. I use boiled potatoes in this recipe. You can also dice potatoes and cook them directly, but mash them lightly. This makes the gravy a little thicker and tasty.

3. Matar Paneer

Matar Paneer is a popular dish in North India and is loved all over India. This is a delicious recipe yet easy to prepare. This takes hardly 30 minutes to prepare this dish. For regular preparation, I make this curry with onion and tomato gravy. But if you want to make it richer, add cashew paste to the gravy. Paneer or cottage cheese and green peas are the hero ingredients in this curry.

4. Rajma Masala (Kidney Beans Curry)

Rajma masala is one of the most popular dishes in North Indian cuisine. It's more loved in Punjab. This is made with kidney beans and other aromatic spices. But whole spices play an essential role in rajma masala. Rajma is best paired with rice, and we all know this as Rajma Chawal. However, you can also serve it with roti/ paratha/ naan/ kulcha.

5. Paneer Tikka Masala

This super delicious restaurant-style Paneer tikka masala combines grilled paneer tikka with a rich gravy of cashews, onion, tomato, and other aromatic spices. Serve this paneer tikka masala with tandoori roti. This recipe has three steps: marinating paneer cubes in tikka masala, grilling the marinated cubes, and then cooking the gravy. In conclusion, this is a must-try recipe for all foodies.

6. Lauki Chana Dal (Bottle gourd & Gram Lentils)

Lauki chana dal is a protein and fiber-rich dal recipe. It's perfect for your weight loss diet as well. You can have this with roti, paratha, rice, or as an individual lentil soup. Give it a tempering of onion, tomato, and other Indian spices. However, this is an easy and quick dish.

7. Lauki Kofta Curry (Vegan Meatballs)

Lauki kofta curry is a delicious curry. This is one of the common curries in North Indian kitchens. In this recipe, dumplings of lauki are cooked in onion and tomato-based gravy. This goes well with roti, paratha, or even rice. The dumplings are spiced and also cooked in aromatic spices.

8. Dum Aloo

This dum aloo has a rich gravy because I have added cashew paste. This North Indian style or restaurant-style dum aloo differs slightly from Kashmiri dum aloo in terms of spices and preparation methods. For the dum aloo recipe, use baby potatoes. You can also use regular boiled potatoes. Though the name is dum aloo, there is no method of dum cooking in this curry.

9. Gatte ki Sabzi

Gatte ki sabzi authentically comes from Rajasthan. This is a curd-based dish. To make this curry, besan or gram flour logs are boiled/ steamed and cooked in curd and tomato gravy. This tastes excellent with rice or roti. But I would generously add a good quality asafoetida for an intense flavor because hing adds that extra flavor and aroma to the gravy. Also, curry leaves are essential in adding flavor to the dish.

10. Dal Makhani

Dal makhani is one of the most popular dishes. Traditionally, dal makhani is made with black gram lentils (sabut urad dal) and kidney beans (rajma). But I do make it with a little twist of lentils. This dal makhani dish is made with whole masoor dal instead of whole urad dal. The rest of the process is the same.

11. Sarson Ka Saag

Sarson ka saag is a quintessential Punjabi dish. This green curry is made with sarson or mustard greens mixed with other green leafy vegetables. Easy to make and flavourful rich dish is my winter exceptional food. This tastes excellent with makke ki roti, so add an extra dose of desi ghee for taste.

12. Palak Paneer

Palak Paneer is a delicious dish with healthy palak greens and protein-rich paneer. In this dish, paneer is cooked in palak or spinach gravy and other aromatic Indian spices. However, this is one of the much-loved dishes. This goes well with tandoori roti or with rice.

13. Punjabi Dal Tadka

Dal Tadka is a staple food in many parts of India. It normally goes with chapati or roti and even with rice. This is a mixed dal made with arhar dal (Yellow pigeon pea lentils), moong dal (yellow split moong bean), and masoor dal (orange lentils). However, double tempering is what makes the taste different and special. Finally, add the best quality hing (asafoetida) for that extra punch in flavor.

14. Kathal Ki Sabzi

Kathal ki sabzi, or Indian Jackfruit curry, is one of the popular dishes. I call this vegetarian meat as it has a similar texture and taste. It is a little sticky and tricky to cut the fresh jackfruit. But with a bit of greased palm and knife, you can chop them quickly. These are cooked with aromatic whole spices and onion paste. This makes a fantastic main course and an alternative to meat for vegetarians.

15. Chana Masala

Kala chana masala is made with brown chickpeas. I have made this without onion and garlic, but you can add them to the dish if you want to. Kala chana is one of the healthy and fiber-rich pulses. Soak Kala chana overnight and then boil it in a pressure cooker (manual or electric). Then sautee it with tomatoes and other spices.

16. Chole Masala

Chole masala is also famous as chickpea curry. This is one of the most common and most loved Indian curries you will ever have. This pairs nicely with rice, naan, roti, kulcha, or bhatura. Chole bhature is one of the common combos you will find in Indian states.

17. Mushroom Tikka Masala

Like other tikka masala, this mushroom tikka masala is loaded with flavors and makes a fantastic party food. It features tender mushrooms simmered in a creamy, spiced tomato sauce. Perfectly aromatic and rich, this dish brings comfort and warmth to any table, whether served with rice or naan.

18. Bagara Baingan

This is a popular South Indian dish of eggplant. This curry is exceptionally delicious with a creamy smooth texture and tangy nutty flavor. Eggplants are fried and cooked in flavorful spices, which make this a fantastic curry. This pairs up well with rice. I of my personal favorites.

19. Saag Aloo

Saag aloo or aloo palak is a vegan Indian curry in which potatoes and spinach are cooked with aromatic spices. This can be cooked in a few other ways, like sauteed veggies or a creamy smooth spinach curry texture. Both ways, it tastes incredible.

20. Cauliflower Tikka Masala

21. Malai Kofta Curry

22. Shaam Savera

23. Parwal Masala

24. Cauliflower and Potato Curry

25. Lobia Curry

26. Goan Mushroom Curry

27. Mushroom Matar Masala

28. Vegan Coconut Kofta Curry

29. Soya Chunks Curry

Best Indian Curry Recipes

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