I love spice of any kind. It could be in a soup, dessert, biscuit, tagine, curry or tea. If spice features in a recipe, I am highly likely to give it a go. My latest discovery is Chai teabags. Tea with spice in, GREAT! It is now the only cuppa I will drink. Dunked biscuits take on the heavenly taste too. Even plain old rich tea taste exotic.
My natural tendency is to cook using a variety of spice flavourings . Having said that, I have yet to be so bold with the children, who are highly suspicious of spicy food. I put this down to the amount of chilli they see me sprinkle on top of a finished dish as well as the strong aromas wafting up their noses, making them sneeze uncontrollably!
How to cook a curry that my children love will generally include lots of cream or coconut milk to soften the flavours of the spices, but I am not much of a Korma girl myself. It would also not be called curry to them but either just chicken & rice or coconut chicken. Deceitful but effective.
So this quick and healthy, easy midweek vegetable curry could be used for the whole family depending on the type of curry powder/paste you use and how good your kids are with curry for tea. Otherwise, as it feeds four, Mr. Scott and I tend to have it for a couple of nights on the trot or I freeze half – ready for a standby meal on busy days.
This curry could be adapted by adding more or less of your own favourite vegetables. For instance, you could omit the courgette replace with peas. You could use pumpkin or potatoes instead of squash and frozen spinach of you don’t have fresh . It would also make a good filling to stuff into pitta breads as an alternative to rice. Serve with a generous spoonful of natural yoghurt.
How to cook an easy midweek vegetable curry
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 inch ginger finely chopped
- 4 chestnut mushrooms roughly chopped
- 1/2 aubergine chopped into small cubes
- 1/2 courgette halved and sliced
- 1 red pepper de-seeded and sliced finely
- 1/2 a butternut squash peeled, de-seeded and cut into small chunks
- 1 bag baby spinach
- 2 tbsp curry powder/paste
- 5 tbsp tomato passata
- 150 ml hot water
- a handful of sultanas
- 400 g tinned chickpeas drained & rinsed
- coriander chopped red chilli & natural yoghurt to garnish
Instructions
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Fry the onion in the olive oil for about 15 minutes on a medium heat to soften and turn golden.
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Add the garlic and ginger and fry for 2 minutes.
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Next add the curry powder of your choice as well as the tomato puree and fry for 2 minutes.
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Add the chopped vegetables and fry for 5 minutes.
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Season with salt & pepper.
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Pour in the tomato passata, chickpeas, raisins/sultanas and water.
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Bring the curry to the boil then simmer on a medium heat for 20/30 minutes.
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Add the spinach which will take very little time to cook.
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Prepare your accompaniments and serve with your rice of choice.
Recipe Notes
This curry will make enough to serve 2 generously or 4 people as an accompaniment to a meat curry. The remainder can be re-heated or frozen in a plastic tub.
You’re a girl after my own heart – spice is King and works like magic in food. Even Chai I drink with relish and I am not a black tea fan. Making double the quantities is such and freezing half is something I keep thinking I should do, but somehow never seem to manage, but it would be so welcome when getting home from work not to have to cook anything.
Gosh, I absolutely LOVE chai. I first came across it at festivals (presumably after its return from 1970s hippy trekking in India).
I was so happy when I found chai tea-bags and possibly my favourite are Yogi Teas.
The ultimate is to make it oneself: simmering spices such as cinnamon and black pepper and cardamom with hemp milk (or dairy milk) and honey, then straining it. Anyway, let me know if you come up with a recipe!
Yes I love Yogi Teas too. I first came across them at my yoga class in Notting Hill back when I lived there. They had the almond flavour I think, and I now use their sleepytime tea. Still, your home made version sounds far better than that. Also, had an amazing chai over in Zanzibar that was divine!
I may try one myself using a pinch of chilli to warm me up in this chilly weather…..
this looks delicious, and the mix of veg superb. I have to admit despite my indian heritage I rarely make curry as I always imagine it will take a long time, so will have a go at this.
I love Chai too. Just wondering if the flavouring from those chai teabags could add something to a biscuit mix like a kind of sweet spiced biscuit… hmmm *goes off to have a think…*
Nazima, I am amazed you have Indian heritage and do not make too many curries! I think you should get back into them. I see a curry as a meal of speed, much like a Thai green/red curry. As long as you have the flavours to hand, it’s pretty much fast food!
Funnily enough, when I saw the heading and the opening paragraph, I wondered if it was a recipe using chai tea-bags in the curry….Well, why not? And yes, it would work a treat in baking, I reckon.
As for Indian cooking, my (erm) guru is Mallika Basu’s Quick Indian Cooking – very good for demystifying the art of Indian cooking.
D’you know I think it’s about time a chai cookie was created! I shall take a look at your cook book recommendation, very interested in that, thanks x
A WONDERFUL and vibrant looking curry and one that I will bookmark, as we love veggie curries! Lovely photos too!
Karen
Glad you’re a curry fan too. That’s one thing I am never sure if the French are really into as they don’t seem to have aisles dedicated to spice in the way that we do!