I love to make this for a Friday night and pretend it's take-away night! You get all the great taste of a real Indian curry, but you get the satisfaction of making it yourself. I stopped using curry from a jar years ago when I found out all the artificial ingredients they add - yuk. I have developed this recipe over a few years, and really enjoy making it as well as eating it!
The beauty of a homemade curry is it's really nutritious with all the fresh vegetables and spices, and you can also make it as mild or hot as you like. Making curries is a wonderful way to get your children interested in spices and flavours, and get them used to eating spicy dishes. I find children are more likely to try different things if they've been involved in the process (like growing their own veg). Over time it's likely you can gradually increase the 'hotness', as spices are beneficial to heart health, as they improve blood circulation and increase heart rate.
This photo really doesn't do it justice... I have to say it's one of the tastiest dishes I make! This will feed about 6 people I reckon, so you can impress your family and friends with it next time they come round for the evening, and enjoy with a glass (or bottle) of wine. Perfect! (Or if you have no friends like me, sob, you can freeze some for another day).
What you will need:
150g red lentils
4 medium carrots
1 red or orange pepper
2 onions
6-10 cloves garlic
50g fresh ginger (or 1 tblsp ground)
50g fresh turmeric (or 1 tblsp ground)
2 tblsp honey
100g ground almonds
1 can coconut milk
1/2 can kidney beans*
1/2 can chick peas*
* Or 100g each of cooked-from-dried beans
1 jar tomato passata
200ml water
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tblsp ground coriander
1 tblsp cumin
1 tblsp paprika
1 tblsp garam masala
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sea salt
100g per person brown wholegrain basmati rice
Note - I tend to use a lot of beans as they give beautiful texture to dishes that many people would use meat in. Instead of using cans though I buy the large packets of dried beans then cook them in bulk, and freeze them in portion-sized jars (I keep mustard and pesto jars as they're perfect for this). I then can simply get a jar out of the freezer in the morning ready for my dinner later on.
Method
Put the lentils into a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, then reduce temperature and simmer for 10 minutes until cooked. Drain and set aside.
Roughly chop all the vegetables, then blitz in a food processor or manual veg & herb chopper until finely chopped. I like to use manual wherever possible for two reasons: 1. I figure every little bit of exercise is beneficial, and 2. there are frequent storms on the Irish coast and power cuts = problems when you're relying on electrical gadgets. I love this little manual chopper.
In a large frying pan or wok if you have one, melt a knob of coconut oil and saute the vegetables on moderate heat until softened
Add the cooked lentils, tomato passata and water, stir and cook for 5 minutes
Add the ground almonds, coconut milk, and all the spices, and stir well.
Add the kidney beans and chick peas (or alternative of your preference), reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes whilst your rice is cooking
To cook the rice: measure out 100g per person of rice, put into a pan and cover with plenty of cold water. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a moderate heat for about 30 minutes until the rice is cooked through. It will look and feel lovely and fluffy, but not sticky and stodgy like white rice can be.
The great thing about brown wholegrain basmati is once cooked you really can't tell the difference in appearance or taste between it and white rice, but you get all the nutritional benefits, so perfect for children (and adults for that matter) who may be reluctant to try brown. In fact, you don't even have to tell them, as they'll never notice!
Drain the rice and spoon it onto the plate, followed by a few spoonfuls of curry. Delicious!
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Many thanks.
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