Last week I was home alone and what better excuse to try out a homemade veggie curry?!
I made this up from scratch with whatever ingredients I had on hand or in the cupboards. The only things I got specifically for this was some coconut cream and some coriander leaves. And naan bread…it’s not a curry without naan bread, right?!
I just guessed amounts, don’t ask me for exact measurements because I just eyeballed it!
This made enough for me for dinner and the same again leftover.
Ingredients
- 1 small onion
- Crushed garlic clove
- Small knob of grated ginger
- Red lentils
- Cauliflower
- Spring greens
- Diced butternut squash
- Coconut cream (or milk if you prefer)
- Herbs and spices of your choice:
- I used 1 teaspoon each of: turmeric, cumin, hot chilli powder and smoked paprika
- Coriander leaves
Method
Dice the onion, grate the ginger and garlic and fry together in a bit of oil. Add the spices and stir. (I used 1 teaspoon each of turmeric, cumin, hot chilli powder and smoked paprika but feel free to add spices of your choice…maybe some chilli flakes if you like it a bit hotter?). You can add a splash of water here if stuff starts to stick to the pan.
Add the diced butternut squash (If you buy the pre-cut stuff from a supermarket then all you have to do is chop it a bit smaller – much quicker!) and stir in. I used most of a pack of the pre-cut stuff coz I’m lazy!
Whilst that is cooking, chop and add the cauliflower. I used about half a cauliflower and kept the rest for cauliflower cheese the next night. I used medium sized pieces of cauliflower as it cooks quite quickly compared to the butternut squash.
I added the carton of coconut cream here. You could use coconut milk if you wanted something a bit lighter.
Then I added a couple of handfuls of red lentils, some salt and pepper and another splash of water as the liquid didn’t cover all the veg in the pot!
I left that to cook for awhile and at the end I added some spring greens, a handful of frozen peas and some coriander leaves and stirred in.
I can’t remember how long I cooked it for, I kept checking until the cauliflower and butternut squash were cooked through and until the lentils looked done.
I had made some yellow rice (rice with a spoonful of turmeric added in) and I heated up a naan bread. Once I put it on the plate I added more coriander on top – it’s my favourite herb!
Yum!
You can make this your own by using whatever veg you have on hand. Sweet potatoes instead of butternut squash. Or normal yellow/ white potatoes? Kale could be used instead of the spring greens. The lentils made it a thick curry, but you could leave them out if they’re not your thing. How about chickpeas instead?
And as for the spices, I didn’t want anything that would burn my mouth off! So, I could have made it a lot hotter, but it’s entirely up to you!
I admit the photo below doesn’t look the most appetising! And the naan looks weird because I cut it in half to fit on the plate…don’t worry, I still ate the whole thing! But it tasted yummy!
Woolly Orbit 