Vegetable Curry
Serves 6 / Adapted from Stephanie Alexander’s Kitchen Garden Cooking
Serves 6
Photo: A Saucy Kitchen
Ingredients
6 large potatoes or other root vegetables or a mix, peeled
1 onion
1 x 5cm piece of fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon each of cumin seeds, coriander seed and brown mustard seeds
½ teaspoon chilli flakes
6 curry leaves
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 x 400-gram tin chopped tomatoes
18 silverbeet leaves
6 stems fresh coriander
10 stalks parsley
salt
Method
Peel the potatoes or root vegetables, chop into small 2 cm pieces and place in a bowl of cold water to stop them turning brown.
Wash all the green leafy things. Peel and chop the onion, ginger and garlic.
Heat a small frying pan over medium heat. Toast the cumin seeds until they are fragrant. Tip them out into a mortar. Repeat with the coriander seeds and then the mustard seeds – these will start to pop when they are ready. Crush them with the pestle then add the chilli flakes, crumbled curry leaves and turmeric and stir to combine.
Drain the potatoes or root vegetables. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan, over a medium heat, and tip in the onion, ginger and garlic. Fry, stirring gently for a few minutes until they have softened. Add the ground spices, the vegetables and the tomatoes, including the juice. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and leave to cook gently for 25 minutes.
While the curry is cooking, remove the white stem from the silverbeet and slice the stems thinly. Lift the lid of the frying pan and add these to the curry, mixing well to combine.
Roll the leaves up into a parcel and slice across with a knife to shred them.
Chop the parsley and coriander roughly (not too fine) and set aside.
When the curry is cooked the vegetables will be tender. Taste and add salt as needed.
Add the silverbeet leaves, cover again and cook for ten minutes.
Ladle the curry into a serving bowl and sprinkle with the parsley and coriander leaves.
The curry can be served with freshly made flatbread or hot steamed rice.