Little Step No. 62
What to do:
Make this quick and easy midweek curry.
Why this step works:
This week’s little step follows hot on the heels of the very simple soup recipe I shared last week. It's a simple tomato-based curry recipe that's one of my favourites because it's easy to make, tasty, healthy and doesn’t cost much either. It's also incredibly versatile. Once you've made the tomatoey base you can add pretty much any veg you like, so it's a great recipe for using up that last bit of cauliflower or cabbage lurking in the fridge! And you can add meat or keep it veggie with a tin of chickpeas instead. Here you go:
Quick & easy midweek curry
You will need:
1 medium onion, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
Thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely grated
2 green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander
2 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
Seeds from 6-8 cardamom pods
A pinch of turmeric
2 tins chopped tomatoes
Method:
Fry the onion in the oil on a medium heat until soft
Add the ginger, chillies, spices and a good pinch of salt, turn the heat down a bit and leave to cook for 5 minutes. Keep stirring to make sure the mixture doesn’t burn. If it looks like it’s sticking, add a few drops of water
Add the chopped tomatoes
At some point within the next 5-10 minutes the oil and the tomatoey sauce will sort of separate. This means your sauce is ready
To this basic sauce, you can add any vegetables, or combination of vegetables you like, bearing in mind that hard veg (eg carrots) will need longer to cook than soft veg (eg spinach) and will therefore need to go in first. So, add your chosen veg to the basic sauce, stir it all about, then pour in a cup of water if things look too dry or you want a runnier curry.
Simmer until the vegetables are cooked, which, depending on what you’ve chosen, will be anything from 5 – 15 minutes.
Add any type of cooked meat (leftover roast chicken or lamb work particularly well) OR a couple of hard boiled eggs (quartered) OR a (drained & rinsed) tin of cooked chickpeas to the vegetables mixture and warm through
I added cabbage, broccoli and chickpeas to mine this week because that's what I had left in the fridge / cupboard. I like to serve this with cauliflower rice and a good dollop of full fat natural yoghurt
What's so great about this recipe?
This is a simple recipe to make and the benefits are simple too. Having easy to make, tasty, healthy, low cost and versatile recipes like this up your sleeve help you to eat well even when life is busy, time is short and prices of everything seem to be rising daily. Many thanks to India Knight's 'The Thrift Book' for this recipe which I've enjoyed countless times. I hope you enjoy it as much and find is as useful as I do x