Bloke's Cookbook - Mixed vegetable curry

Like many great recipes, this one was the result of a lack of organisation and 'What have I got in the cupboard' syndrome. It's probably one of the best curries I've eaten. It's hot, the coconut milk makes it deliciously rich and it's reasonably healthy. It's also something that even a vegan can eat, so long as they don't believe that 'coconut milk' is cruelty to animals.

The only trouble with this recipe is that you have to be absolutely certain that the potatoes have cooked through, otherwise it wrecks the dish. Test them by sticking a fork in to the largest one. If they are still hard, they're not ready. You have to be patient.

This dish will feed 2 people. To feed more simply round up the quantities.

You will need:

Around 200g new potatoes, washed but not peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces;
Around 200g sweet potato, peeled and cubed into bite-sized pieces;
Around 200g green beans, chopped in to 1.5" lengths;
Around 100g tomatoes, chopped;
100ml coconut milk;
2 medium onions;
4 small thai or 3 large chillies (vary depending on how spicy you like it);
4 garlic cloves;
Ground coriander;
Turmeric;
Fennel seeds;
Fresh ginger;
A wok with a lid;
A pestle and mortar;
A food processor (not mandatory)

You can find coconut milk in the tinned foods section of your local supermarket. It's phenomenally fattening but gives an excellent flavour to (amongst other things) curry.

Firstly, put the onions in the food processor and process until they become a paste. If you don't have a food processor, then chop them finely. You'll get a different effect from the dish (it won't be quite as smooth) but it won't spoil the flavour.

Then, make the spice paste. In the pestle and mortar, put 2 of the garlic cloves, 3/4 of an inch of the fresh ginger, one of the chillies (chopped) and 1/2 a teaspoon of the fennel seeds. Fennel is a strongly-flavoured seed so don't overdo it. Now grind all the mix together. Once you've done that, add the chopped tomatoes and mix again.

Now on to the main dish. Slice the remaining chillies. Thinly slice the garlic cloves. Heat the oil in your wok on a medium heat and when it's starting to bubble, add the onions, garlic and chilli. Cook these fairly slowly, moving them around, until the onion starts to turn golden. Then lower the heat and add the potatoes. Put
the lid on the wok and leave for ten minutes.

After ten minutes, remove the lid. Mix in the spice paste from the pestle and mortar. Add the sweet potato, and replace the lid for another ten minutes.

After a total of 20 minutes, test the potatoes to see how well they've cooked. The sweet potatoes should be well on their way (they cook very fast) and starting to soften. The new potatoes should be pretty much done. If they're not, put the lid on, wait 5-10 minutes and check again.

Don't get impatient and try to rush the dish or eat the potatoes when they're hard.

When the spuds have reached the stage described, remove the lid and mix in the green beans. They'll take a matter of a few minutes. However, you've probably still got a fair amount of liquid in the bottom of the wok and it's all runny and a bit feeble. You need to burn some of that off, so keep the lid off, turn the heat up to full and keep everything moving for as long as it takes to get rid of most of that liquid.
We're going to add the coconut milk and you don't want your curry swimming in insipid liquid. You want it bright and fresh and frisky and so fierce on the tastebuds it could earn an ASBO.

As you cook, more liquid will come out of the tomatoes, so be patient.

When you've got rid of most of the excess liquid, turn the heat down and mix in the coconut milk and stir in slowly.

Serve with rice (perhaps flavoured with cloves and cardomon pods, perhaps saffron), and naans to soak up the sauce. Awesome.



Drink with: The usual - ice-cold beers.

Ease of cooking and preparation: 3/5 - No special skills required, just equipment.

Mess Factor: 3/5 - Wok plus rice saucepan plus baking tray for naans, and food processors are a bastard to clean, and you've got the pestle and mortar to wash up too. More of a slog.

Leftover value: 4/5 - Reheats flawlessly and edible (although not awesome) cold.