I could eat curries 'til the cows come home (as they say). Or until it comes out my ears. Homemade curries are such a wonderful way to fill your family with an endless variety of nourishment, each curry different and beautiful in flavour, colour, texture, and smell, and you can use absolutely any kind of vegetables and fruit in them that you like (and even ones you don't, because you can disguise flavours so easily!).
Back in my 'ignorant days' I bought those jars of ready-made curry sauce, and focused instead on the meat in the dish, as if that were the most important part of the meal. But after becoming vegetarian my attention was drawn to how bland and sloppy most of those processed curries were... not to mention full of sugar and artificial rubbish. So instead I found a simple recipe for a homemade curry base-sauce and I've never looked back! I just adapt what I do every time, depending on what kind of veggies (or fruit) I have in my kitchen on the day I fancy making one. But recipes aren't even necessary (except perhaps the first couple times you make them), as you can't really go wrong!
So, today I have for you a curry made from butternut squash, turnip, red onions, garlic, green lentils, aduki beans, chickpeas, tomato passata, coconut milk, and spices (medium curry powder, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, turmeric, cinnamon, coriander).
Directions:
Peel and chop the squash and turnip into chunks. Steam for about 15 minutes until softened (but not squishy... we want to retain as much nutrients as possible!) I used half of each veg here.
Whilst the veggies are steaming, put the lentils (200g) into a pan and cover with cold water (I use rainwater that I collect and filter for cooking with). Simmer for about 20 minutes until tender, drain and set aside.
Peel 2 onions and a whole bulb of garlic (at least), and blitz in a food processor or blender until fine. Saute on moderate heat in a large frying pan (I use a little coconut oil for this) until softened.
Add the squash and turnip, and mash in the pan with a veg masher. I like to leave some a bit chunky... all adds to the texture.
Drain and rinse the aduki beans and chickpeas thoroughly. I'm cheating here using canned beans, but I usually cook them from dried and freeze in small jars so I always have a good supply for cooking. For directions, please see my post Batch Cooking & Freezing Beans (from Dried)- The Easiest and Most Efficient Method
Add the beans, lentils, tomato passata and all the spices to the pan. Give a good stir. Carefully add the coconut milk and try not to slop it all over the cooker as you mix it in (I try yet my pan nearly always overfloweth...)
And there we have it! Serve with rice or whatever takes your fancy. One tasty dinner. In fact, more than one tasty dinner, as a full pan like this should provide two people about three or even four meals. I leave it to cool, then put in jars and freeze for those lazy days when I don't want to cook.
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("5 Cs" shared with kind permission from @kiwideb)
Oh yum! That is packed with all of the good stuff! So filling and satisfying with all of the beans and lentils. I bet your kitchen smelled delicious while that was cooking.
Oh yeah, delicious curry smells throughout the house! Beats air fresheners any day!
This looks so amazing. I also love curry but struggle to find good recipes. Chickpeas give the dish more substance and served over rice...yum! I look forward to more of you recipes. Thank you! I'll have to give this one a try! Great post!
Thanks very much @birdsinparadise! I hope you enjoy it :-)
I once bought an already made curry in the store simply because I wanted to see how it tastes. It didn't taste too bad but when I looked at the ingredients I changed my mind. It was full of processed fats with minimum veggies. I always prefer home made meals because you can actually see what you are eating while in store bought products there are often hidden ingredients.. Your curry looks delicious! Great job :)
Thanks very much! Yeah, ready made curries may taste ok but the ingredients are far from ok, as you noticed. I'm yet to find one that doesn't contain MSGs, and I bet you anything they use the crappiest quality veg, all the left-over yuk they can't put in other products!
Yummy! I love a good curry. I am actually busy making right now! 😂
I am making a coconut chickpea red curry. I usually make curries and freeze them for a easy and delicious meal on a busy day.
Yes, a good supply of curry in the freezer is a must for me! Your coconut chickpea red curry sounds delicious... If you're posting the recipe I will look forward to seeing it!
Oh my gosh I just had curry for lunch, third day already and I have one more serving for tomorrow. I totally agree Dear Joanna, there is nothing like homemade curry sauce and yours looks and sounds amazing and very similar to my, lol. I will post my recipe for #veganwednesday .
Lovely! I will keep an eye out for your recipe :-) Thank you for the vote and resteem!
Always a pleasure my Dear 🍒 🍌🍑🌿🍍🍓🍇
CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ! A WELL-EARNED AWARD!
Wahey, how exciting!!! Thank you very much! :-)
that's what I'm going to cook tomorrow, because it looks awesome and I have all the ingredients! apart from adzuki whick I'll just miss, and I'll substitute turnip with potato.
Maybe I missed something, but where can I see the proportions of the ingredients?
Hi @steemitbaby! Most of the quantities I mentioned in the commentary through the step-by-step photos. But if it's easier I can just list them now!
1/2 butternut squash
1/2 turnip (or 3 good sized potatoes)
2 onions
1 bulb garlic (or more if you like!)
200g lentils (any colour)
1 x 400g aduki beans (or other)
1 x 400g chickpeas (or other!)
1 x 680ml jar tomato passata (or 1-2 cans of chopped tomatoes)
1 x can coconut milk
2 tblsp curry powder
1 tblsp paprkia
1 tblsp cumin
1 tblsp turmeric
1 tblsp ground coriander (or fresh if you have it)
1 tblsp cinnamon
1 tblsp black pepper
1 tsp unrefined salt
(optional 1 tsp honey)
I usually give the quantities of ingredients in my recipes, but with curries I tend not to stick too closely to specific amounts :-) I'm delighted you like the sound of it, and I hope you thoroughly enjoy your curry tomorrow!
That is what came out of it. It was delicious and fulfilling and got me free from cooking for 2 days))
I loved the quantities of spices you listed, I would never put that much, but it turned out awesome! And cinnamon made it totally unique!
Oh my goodness I'm thrilled you made my curry, haha! It looks just like mine :-) Yeah, I'm not shy about putting in a good selection of spices, and I find the slight sweetness of cinnamon balances out the tomato. And it's always good to have plenty left for another day and give us a break from cooking! I'm so pleased, thank you for taking a photo, I love it!!!
=))
awesome, thank you!
Your post comes down to delicious and healthy. There is nothing more to say than my sincere words of congratulations! happy Monday @woman-onthe-wing
As always you're very kind @gersson! Many thanks for your lovely comment :-)
Delicious!! Who knew that building up a curry could be so simple and look so inviting? I’ll definitely be making my own curries from now on!
Oh yes, curries are so much easier than people think! I hope you enjoy all the amazing curries you're going to make for the rest of your life! :-)
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