Indian Style Vegetable and Legume Curry

Tonight’s dinner was an absolute hit, even 3 year old Isabella cleaned her plate!

This meal is low budget- less than $1 per serve, feeds a crowd and is wholesome, tummy filling, comfort food packed with flavour!  You can substitute any legume in this dish- lentils, beans or chickpeas.  This is an excellent recipe to use up any veg in your crisper- all root vegetables, green beans, cauliflower, eggplant, zucchini etc. As we are moving house next month, I am desperately trying to use up all the ingredients in my pantry and used tinned borlotti beans. I know this isn’t a traditional indian ingredient, but it worked really well. I think it also helped to thicken the dish. We served this curry with steamed basmati rice, if you’re not watching your waist, try it with some garlicky naan!

This recipe yields enough to feed 10 people. Cook once – eat three times in our house!

Ingredients

1.5 cups dried legumes or pulses OR two 400g tins, rinsed and drained

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons ginger, minced

1 large onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 teaspoons garam masala

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 tablespoon chicken stock powder ( I highly recommend “Massell” tinned stock powder)

400g tin crushed tomatoes

270ml lite coconut cream

1 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks celery, diced

2 carrots, chopped

4 potatoes, chopped

1 sweet potato, chopped

1/4 butternut pumpkin, chopped

2 cups frozen peas

Method

1. If using dried legumes, cover with water, soak overnight and drain. Place in a pot of boiling water until tender and drain.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan and saute onion until translucent. Add ginger, garlic and spices stirring one minute until fragrant.
3. On a high heat, add legumes and chopped vegetables except peas to the pan. Add crushed tomatoes, coconut cream, water and stock powder, stir to combine. Add some extra water and chicken stock if there is not enough liquid to cover the vegetables. Once the curry is bubbling nicely, cover and reduce heat to a simmer., stirring every 5-10 minutes.
4. After 20 minutes, add the peas. If using other vegetables, I suggest you cook the root vegetables on their own for the first 20 minutes and add ingredients such as spinach, eggplant, zucchini, peas and green beans for the final 20 minutes.

Once the vegetable are tender, ladle generous portions over steamed rice and enjoy!

A dollop of natural yoghurt and a sprinkle of fresh coriander leaves would be a perfect accompaniment to this hearty meal.

Recipe created by Daniella Mancuso © 28 Aug 10