Vegetable curry

It's difficult to post a recipe for this one, as it's very much a 'throw what you've got into the pan' type thing with no fixed quantities! It's lovely, though - the vegetables pretty much cook down into mush, but they all add their own bit of flavour and it's much nicer than the baby food it resembles... (If you really want some quantities to get started then see the notes at the end.)

Makes: Depends how much of each ingredient you use

Takes: 10 minutes + 30-40 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

Sweet potato(es)

Potato(es)

Cauliflower

Carrots

Tinned tomatoes

Tinned coconut milk

Vegetable stock cube

Salt and pepper

Curry powder to taste

Fresh spinach

Method

1. Peel the sweet potato(es) and potato(es) and cut them into approximate 2-inch chunks. Cut the cauliflower into florets of a similar size. Peel and top and tail the carrots, cut in half lengthways then chop into thick slices.
2. Put all the vegetables in a large saucepan with the tinned tomatoes and coconut milk. Make up a pint of stock with the stock cube and boiling water and add to the pan, then season and add the curry powder.
3. Stir well and bring the curry to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for 30 minutes or so, until the vegetables are cooked and starting to break up to form a thick sauce. Stir every now and then during this time and add a bit more boiling water if the curry looks too dry.
4. Rinse the spinach leaves then stir them into the curry till they start to wilt. Serve with rice.

As a very rough guide, you can use 1 large sweet potato, a couple of medium potatoes, 1 small cauliflower, 3 carrots and 1 tin each of tomatoes and coconut milk with 1 pint of stock and a couple of handfuls of spinach. I'd use about 2 tbsp curry powder with that lot. But as you can see, it's a very flexible recipe!

Aromatic Chicken Curry

This is a full-flavoured curry with a rich sauce, delicious with rice and naan bread :-) (Chipped plate optional!)

Makes: 2 servings
Takes: 15 minutes preparation + 30 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion
1 garlic clove
3cm piece of fresh ginger root
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp garam masala
2 ripe tomatoes
2 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts
150ml (1/4 pint) chicken stock
2 tbsp half-fat creme fraiche
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Finely chop the onion and crush the garlic, add to the pan and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
2. Finely grate the ginger and add to the pan with the spices, cooking for a further minute.
3. Chop the tomatoes and cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add tomatoes and chicken to the pan with the chicken stock and bring to the boil.
4. Turn the heat down to medium and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the sauce is thick and rich.
5. Turn off the heat and stir in the creme fraiche, adding salt and pepper to taste.

The sauce can be frozen at the end of step 4. Reheat then add the creme fraiche to serve.
It's easy to increase the quantities (especially if wanting to freeze part of the sauce) but allow extra cooking time.
You can use garlic puree, ginger puree and a couple of tinned tomatoes if preferred.

Keralan-style Prawn Curry

I couldn't find any curry leaves so I just missed them out. I was wary of making the curry too hot so I also used just one chilli and removed the seeds, but that did make a mild sauce so if you like hot curries then you may want to use two chillis and include the seeds. It is more of a fragrant, tasty curry than a burn-your-mouth hot curry though!

Makes: 4 servings
Takes: 40 minutes (including cooking time)

Ingredients

2 tbsp mild olive oil
150g shallots
3 cloves garlic or 3 tsp garlic puree
20g fresh root ginger or ginger puree
1-2 fresh green chillis
1 tsp turmeric
small bunch fresh coriander
About 30 curry leaves
200ml vegetable stock
400ml tin of coconut milk
200g green beans
300g large raw peeled prawns

Method

1. Peel and slice the shallots and fry them in 1 tbsp of the oil till softened but not coloured. Peel and slice the garlic and peel and chop the ginger (if not using purees). Slice the chillis, removing the seeds if desired. Remove the leaves from the coriander and set aside for now.
2. Put the shallots, garlic, ginger, chillis, turmeric and coriander stalks into a blender and blitz to a coarse paste.
3. Heat the remaining oil in a large pan and fry the curry leaves for 1 minute (if using). Add the curry paste and cook for 3 minutes then add the stock and coconut milk. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
4. Trim the green beans and cut into short pieces. Add to the sauce and cook for 5 minutes, then add the prawns and cook for a further 3-4 minutes, until cooked through. Season and stir in the coriander leaves before serving.

You can make the sauce in advance then bring back to simmering point and add the beans and prawns when ready to eat.
You could also use fillets of white fish, such as cod, instead of the prawns.