Vegetable Curry

This is a keeper. It’s quick, tasty and inexpensive and there’s so little washing up it’s a joy! I like to make my own curry paste (recipe to follow!) but there are so many good ones available on the supermarket shelf, there’s no need to make your own, but you may like to have a go.

The vegetables can vary completely to whatever you prefer.  For example add peas, beans (fresh, tinned or frozen) carrots, beetroot, swede. Whatever takes your fancy. If you’re concerned about quantities I find it’s good to arrange the different ingredients for one person on a board or plate and see how it looks and whether or not it’s an overwhelming plateful. However, dealing with any leftovers is always another fun meal!

Ingredients: (per person)
3 or 4 florets of broccoli and cauliflower
1 small parsnip, peeled and sliced into 2 cm chunks
4 new potatoes with the skin on (small salad style potatoes) halved
1 small onion, peeled and chopped finely of chunky depending on your preference
2 teaspoons sunflower oil
100g red lentils
½ pint vegetable stock
A handful of cashew nuts
2 cloves of garlic or a squirt of ready prepared garlic from a squeezy tube
Ready-made curry paste, whichever you prefer, check out the heat though, especially if you’re providing a meal for little people when you will probably want to go for a mild Korma
Optional 1 tablespoon natural yogurt to serve

*tip: If you like you can serve with a swirl of yogurt and perhaps naan bread.

Method:
When you prepare the broccoli and cauliflower don’t discard the stems. Slice this into rounds and also keep the leaves as they are all tasty.

Cook all the vegetables in a lidded casserole where the water just covers the broccoli and cauliflower until just tender. They still need some bite to them or you will have a big mush. The ingredients used here should all cook in the same time with the exception of the potatoes which you should give a 5-10 minute cook on their own then add the more quickly cooked vegetables to them. Once the veg is cooked discard the water into a jug and set aside.

Plunge the vegetables into really cold water to stop them from continuing to cook and to keep the lovely bright colours and textures.

Using the same casserole dish cook the onion in the sunflower oil.

Add the red lentils and coat them in the oil. Add the vegetable stock and garlic.

You may use the cooking water from the veggies with an added stock cube if you have no other readily available veg stock. Cook the lentils until they are completely soft, you may need to add more stock to loosen it up a little.

Add the curry sauce and then the vegetables, mix gently and thoroughly heat, without breaking the veggies up.  Add the curry paste and cashew nuts to the lentil vegetable mix. Usually, a tablespoon per person is sufficient, but do taste as you go and decide if you would like to add a little more stock so that it can coat the vegetables. This may be kept warm for a few minutes in the oven, ready to serve. The flavours develop further and the veggies will get softer which may be to your liking.