Yesterday we had a rather large storm the size of Australia on our shores, which meant freezing cold blustery winds, sporadic rain and generally just a more intensified Wellington Spring day. It did however make me in the mood for a lovely hot belly warming Indian Curry.My favourite curry place is the lovely Holy Cow in Kelburn, and my favourite dish is vegetable makhani. So recipe in hand, Reuben and I visited the supermarket for supplies and drove home to our equally freezing flat. First up I was too keen to try a new recipe for banana chocolate cup cakes so I made these first (post to come) then cleaned up and prepared to start the Vegetable Makhani.
Ingredients:
Onion
Garlic (2-3 cloves)
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1 tin coconut cream
1-3 tsps red chili powder
2 tsps coriander
2 tsps cumin
2Tbsp ginger
3Tbsp tomato paste
Vegetables of your choice
I used:
1 head of broccoli
1 cup of frozen peas
a handful of green beans
1 tin lentils
First of all you sautee the onion until browned then add the garlic, tomato paste and ginger and fry for about a minute or so. I then added about half a tin of tomatoes and let it simmer for a while longer, then adding the remainder of the first tin. Next I added the chili, cumin and coriander stirred it in and cooked for a little more. Next add the vegetables and the tin of lentils mix it all in then add the remaining tin of chopped tomatoes and a tin of coconut cream. Stir it all in and the colour should turn from a dark red to a creamy orange.
It's important to let it simmer for half an hour or so for the sauce to thicken and all the flavours to explode! Also taste the mixture regularly as you may prefer more or less spice or more or less of some flavours, so feel free to add more coconut cream if it's too spicy or more chili if you need the extra kick! We certainly did on such a cold dark evening! Serve with rice or naan or a combination of both, we bought frozen naan from the supermarket and baked it in the oven it was lovely!
i could see some chickpeas quite happily having a swim in that red sea of goodness! actually i make something a bit similar now i think about it nat. Throw chunks of pumpkin in the oven for 20mins, then make a sauce pretty much exactly like you've said, but with chickpeas in. hmm though i tend towards less of the middle east spices, and towards alot of rocksalt, garlic, and rosemary. Anyway, I make the sauce and then pour it around the half cooked pumkin in the dish. Then (you'll need to substitue at this point) put a knob of cream cheese onto each pumkin wedge! roast for another half hourish (depending on pumkin) mmmmmmm! unfortunately I think it's the cream cheese that really makes it zing.
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