Easy Quorn Curry with Lemon and Ginger Rice

Some curry recipes have an ingredient list so long that you can lose the will to cook before you’ve even found the cumin, which is why I’ve kept this easy Quorn curry on Just Average Jen despite having lots of other curries now. The curry itself is incredibly simple, with Quorn, mushrooms, tomatoes, lime and curry powder, but I serve it with lemon and ginger rice that makes the whole meal much more interesting.

I’ve been vegetarian since I was 10, so this isn’t a chicken recipe I’ve converted afterwards just so I can add a vegetarian variation. I originally made it with frozen vegetarian chicken-style pieces, and that’s still how I’d make it now.

The whole meal takes around 25 minutes because you can make the curry while the rice is cooking, which makes it one of the quicker curries on my site. If you’re looking for more meat-free ideas afterwards, you’ll find plenty in my vegetarian curry recipes collection.

Why I still like this really easy Quorn curry

Going through my older recipes has made me realise how wildly different they are. Some of my curries have a cupboard’s worth of individual spices, while this one relies on medium curry powder and lime juice with a simple tomato sauce.

I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.

Sometimes I love cooking something from scratch with loads of different spices, but there are also evenings when finding one jar of curry powder is about as much enthusiasm as I can muster. Having both sorts of recipe on Just Average Jen makes far more sense to me than pretending we all want to cook the complicated version every night.

One of the comments on this easy Quorn recipe came from someone who said they’d always put off making curry because the ingredient lists were usually as long as their arm. That sums up exactly who I think this recipe is useful for.

What you’ll need for the easy Quorn curry

For the curry itself, you’ll need 300g of frozen vegetarian chicken-style pieces, 200g mushrooms, a tin of chopped tomatoes, lime juice and medium curry powder, along with salt and pepper.

That’s basically it.

I use Quorn-style pieces because I’m vegetarian and I like them in this recipe, although you can use whichever vegetarian chicken substitute you normally buy. Different brands can have different cooking instructions, so check the packet rather than assuming every frozen meat substitute cooks in exactly the same way.

The mushrooms are sliced and added once the Quorn is thoroughly heated, then the curry powder and lime juice go in before the tomatoes.

The lemon and ginger rice

The rice is really what makes this meal a little different from my other easy curries.

I use basmati rice with lemon juice, turmeric and ginger, so you end up with bright yellow rice with a fresh citrus flavour alongside the tomato curry.

I’d first tried something similar from a local Indian takeaway and couldn’t understand why lemon and ginger rice wasn’t something I’d come across more often. It’s a lovely change from plain rice without involving another enormous list of ingredients.

If lemon and ginger rice isn’t your thing, though, there’s absolutely no reason you can’t serve the curry with ordinary basmati rice instead. My guide to cooking rice might help if rice is one of those supposedly simple things that never seems quite as simple when you actually make it!

Making the lemon and ginger rice

First things first, let’s get the rice on. We’re going to be steaming this rice, so it will take roughly twenty minutes from start to finish. First off, put all your ingredients – except for the rice –  in the pan. That’s two cups of water, along with your lemon juice and spices.

Put that on the hob, and as it comes to heat, add the rice and put a lid on it. Make sure you keep a lid on your rice, otherwise, it will boil instead of steam. There’s nothing wrong with boiling rice if it’s the way you happen to like it, I just massively prefer steamed rice. Once your rice is on, let’s get to the curry!

How to make the easy Quorn curry

I start by getting the rice going because that takes around 20 minutes, then make the curry while it’s cooking.

For the curry, heat a large pan with a little cooking spray and add the vegetarian chicken-style pieces. Season them and cook according to the instructions for the product you’re using until they’re thoroughly heated.

Once they’re ready, add the sliced mushrooms, lime juice and curry powder and stir everything together. Give the curry powder around a minute in the pan before adding the tomatoes; you should start to smell the spices as they warm.

Pour in the chopped tomatoes, reduce the heat and let everything simmer gently with the lid on for around 10 minutes.

Remove the lid for the final five minutes so some of the excess liquid can evaporate and the sauce can thicken. Once you’re happy with the consistency and everything is thoroughly hot, it’s ready to serve with the lemon and ginger rice.

How spicy is this easy Quorn curry?

That really depends on the curry powder you use, because there isn’t any additional chilli in the recipe.

I use medium curry powder, which gives it plenty of curry flavour without making it particularly fierce. If you’re cooking for someone who prefers very mild food, use a mild curry powder you already know they like.

If you’re looking for something considerably hotter, my Sri Lankan-inspired chicken curry or chicken jalfrezi would be a much better choice for the meat eaters in your house.

For another vegetarian curry with a bit more going on in the spice department, have a look through my vegetarian curry recipes.

Can I use a different vegetarian chicken substitute?

Yes, although I’d follow the cooking instructions for whichever product you buy.

When I originally wrote this recipe I used supermarket own-brand frozen vegetarian chicken pieces because I liked them and they were easy to get. I’ve also cooked with Quorn for years, so that’s another obvious choice for me.

Meat substitutes have changed quite a lot since I first became vegetarian, and there are far more options now than there used to be. That does mean I can’t sensibly give one cooking time that covers every brand, though.

Use the recipe for the sauce and overall meal, then make sure your chosen vegetarian chicken substitute is cooked according to its own instructions.

You’ll find lots more ways I use it in my Quorn recipes collection.

Can I make this with chicken?

The recipe card has been developed around frozen vegetarian chicken-style pieces, and I’d rather point you towards one of my properly tested chicken curries than guess at how much raw chicken you should use and change the timings.

My mild chicken curry is an easy option, while chicken and mushroom curry is particularly worth looking at if it was the mushroom part of this recipe that appealed to you.

There are plenty more in my main curry recipes collection too.

Can I serve the curry with ordinary rice?

Of course. In fact, if you’re making this because you want the absolute easiest dinner possible, plain rice makes it even simpler.

I like the lemon and ginger rice because it gives such a basic curry something a little different, but dinner isn’t ruined because you’ve run out of lemons.

You could also serve it with naan, air fryer onion bhajis or another rice dish from my rice recipes collection.

I’d try the lemon and ginger version at least once, though. Otherwise this becomes a very straightforward tomato and mushroom curry, whereas the flavoured rice is what makes the complete meal memorable for me.

What if I don’t like citrus flavours?

There’s quite a bit of citrus in the complete meal because you’ve got lemon in the rice and lime in the curry.

If you actively dislike citrus, I’d probably choose another curry rather than removing both and ending up with something quite different from the recipe I intended.

If it’s simply that you don’t fancy lemon rice, that’s much easier — make plain rice and leave the lime in the curry.

I’ve removed the old external link to a Wikipedia list of citrus fruits because I’m reasonably confident nobody making dinner needs me to explain what a lemon is!

Can I make this ahead?

You can make the curry ahead and keep it for another meal, although I’d store the curry and rice separately.

Cool cooked food promptly and refrigerate it once cooled, following current food-safety guidance for leftovers. Rice needs particular care when cooling and reheating, so don’t leave a pan of it sitting around at room temperature for hours.

The curry itself is easy to portion, and because the sauce is tomato-based it reheats nicely. You may find it thickens in the fridge, in which case a very small splash of water while reheating should loosen it again.

More easy vegetarian curries

If what appealed to you here was the short ingredient list, my cauliflower and chickpea curry is another fairly straightforward meat-free option.

For something more substantial, the one-pot chickpea curry has chickpeas, lentils, broccoli and spinach, while my easy vegetable curry is packed with different vegetables and has a much bigger mixture of individual spices.

You’ll find all of those in my vegetarian curry recipes collection, along with my Quorn versions of several other curries.

Or have a browse through all my curry recipes if you’re cooking for a household like mine where different people often want different things.

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