Curry

I made curry last night. Veggie curry. I'm not a veggie, but it's a really cheap meal and we eat it a lot.

So here's what you need ....

• Lentils 300g - I used red here, but sometimes I use yellow dahl instead
• Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes- about 1kg in total.
• Onion - 1 large
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Ginger - a good chunk - about an inch
• Chili - fresh or dried.
• Mustard Seeds - 1tbsp
• Fenugreek - 2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
• Turmuric - 1tsp
• Cayenne Chilli Pepper - to taste !
• Garam Masala - to taste !
• Paprika = 1tsp
• 1 tin of tomatoes - chopped.
• fresh corriander

First prepare the lentils. Put them in a fine sieve and rinse them under cold water. Then into pan with about a litre of water or stock, and boil vigourously for about 20 minutes. A froth will form on the surface of the water - skim this off.

Eventually the lentils will have boiled down to a soft mushy texture. Set the pan aside. We'll use that to bulk out our sauce. It should still be fairly liquid, and may seperate slightly when you leave it to sit - no bother.

While the lentils are cooking, prep the rest of the dish. Peel the veg and dice it - I like big chunks, they tend to hold together better in the final dish. Peel the onion, ginger  and garlic, and place in a blender with the chill. It's hard to tell you how much chilli and ginger you should add - much of the heat comes from these ingredients. Last night I used 3 red chillis that I bought fresh but that had dried out. Sometimes I'll use more, sometimes less, depending on mood, and also how hot the chillis are - there's trial and error at work here. As for ginger, I usually bung in about a golf ball's worth. Glug a little oil in there to help it bind together as a paste, and blitz it.

Time to cook.

Take a big pan - I use a wok, and get it nice and hot. Then add a dash of oil, and as soon as that is hot (almost smoking) add the mustard seeds. fry these off for a few seconds. They may start to pop - this is a good thing, but boy does it make a mess if you forget to put a lid on the pan. What you're doing her is releasing the flavours in the seeds - the frying bit is important. Skip this, and your curry will appear to have tasteless grit in it! As the mustard seeds start to pop, bung in the cumin and fenugreek. Continue to fry for another 20-30 seconds. Then add the onion paste you made earlier. Stir well, and fry this mixture for a minute or two. You can let it take on a little colour here, but be careful not to burn it.

Now chuck in the veg, toss well so that paste starts to coat the veg, and continue to fry off, stirring/tossing frequently so that the veg doesn't stic. Again, let it take on a little colour.

Add in the garam masala - I use about 2 tablespoons usually, but again, it depends on taste and the strength of your spice mix, the turmuric and paprika (which are essentially for colour) and also the chilli powder if you want to heat things up a little. The lentils and tomatoes will tone this curry down quite a bit, so don't be shy.

Finally add the lentils and the tomatoes. Stir, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until the veg is done (15-20 mins), then stir in some fresh chopped corriander.

Sometimes I find that as the veg cooks the sauce thickens too much. If this happens I'll let it down with some water.

And there we have it - my vegetable curry. Note - this is not a definitive recipe. It changes depending on what I have in the larder. Try it with other root veg as well as or instead of the potatoes. Aubergine and Okra are both good (need less cooking time), and it's also good to chuck in french beans or perhaps cauliflower. Whatever you fancy, try it. Sometimes I add fresh whole chillis which means that people can choose not to eat them, and so vary the heat to their requirements. You can also skip the blitzing of the onions etc and just chop them finely, or even roughly if you wish. In fact, adding a lot of onions, and I mean a LOT, sliced and then fried gently until soft, is a really nice way to add texture to the sauce. Use chopped fresh tomatoes so that that there is colour and texture. Really, whatever you fancy. No two curries that I cook are ever quite the same. The above is just a starting point.

There are also plenty of other spices you can try. The list is huge, and I've not experimented much, mostly because those above are what I happen to have in the cupboard.

Happy cooking.

Now - will you be wanting a naan with that ? Oh you do ? ok then .....