Vegetable Curry (recipe)

Here is a way to make a vegetable curry that is not just brown gack:

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp oil or a large chunk of butter
• 2 sliced onions
• Spices (minimum quantities):
  • 2 tsp ground coriander (seeds)
  • 2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp curry powder (or 1 tsp garam masala and 1/4tsp powdered chillies)
  • 2 tsp chopped root ginger, or powder if that’s all you can get
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed (under a knife or a wooden spoon, not in a garlic press. If the cloves are small, use more. You can never be too careful with garlic.)
• 4 sliced carrots
• 250ml (1/2pt) vegetable stock (use stock cubes/powder, or water and a heaped tsp marmite/yeast extract/vegemite/[enter your perversion here])
• 350g (12oz) sliced courgettes (=zucchini=summer squash)
• salt and pepper
• 1 small cauliflower, broken into florets
• 50g (2oz) roasted cashew nuts (at least)
• 150g (5oz) natural yoghurt (at least)

Instructions

1. Heat the oil or butter gently in a large pan, add the onions and fry gently until they are softened (transparent).
2. Add the spices and garlic, fry for 1 minute, stirring.
3. Add the carrots, fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring.
4. Add stock, and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Add courgettes and cauliflower.
7. Cook around 10 more minutes, until the carrots are done but not until the cauliflower goes soft and squishy. Hard carrot is far preferable to squishy cauliflower.
8. Stir in the nuts and yoghurt and heat through.

Serve with rice, naan, chapati, cucumber in yoghurt, imagination...

Variants

• You can double the quantities of spices and garlic with no ill effects.
• If you like coriander, add some whole seeds and enjoy the taste exploding in your mouth when you bite on them.
• Add some potatoes at the same time as the carrots. You'll need more oil and spices.
• Use broccoli instead of cauliflower.
• Add other vegetables.
• Leave out vegetables.

This recipe is derived from one in a vegetarian cookery book in which none of the other recipes were any good at all. It therefore gets no credit, especially since I no longer have it and have forgotten what it was called.