Smita’s courgette curry
Anyone who was at the Society’s summer BBQ will probably have enjoyed Smita’s aromatic courgette curry. For those of you who were there, here’s a chance to relive the flavours. For those of you who weren’t there, here’s a chance to find out what you missed.
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 12 to 15 minutes
Serves: 1 or 2 (Use one small/medium courgette per person)
Ingredients
- Courgettes: 2 medium diced
- Tomato 1 medium chopped or half cooking apple diced
- 1 chopped onion
- 1 tsp chopped ginger and/or garlic
- ¼ tsp mustard seeds
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tbsp oil
- Salt to taste
- Chopped coriander leaves: 1 tbsp
- Optional: 1 tbsp crushed peanuts/ dash of cream or tahini or coconut milk (anything that you prefer to add to the texture or taste)
Method
- Heat the oil in pan, add mustard seeds and wait till they crackle then quickly add chopped onion, ginger and garlic.
- Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and stir for couple of minutes on a medium low heat.
- Add cut courgettes and apple/tomato plus garam masala and put the lid on and cook on a medium heat for six to eight minutes.
- Towards the end of cooking you can add a handful of crushed peanuts if you like it nutty. If you like it creamy then add a dash of cream or coconut milk and leave it to simmer with the lid on for three to five minutes.
- Garnish it with the chopped coriander leaves and it is ready to eat.
At stage 3, you can also add a handful of peas or some other similar consistency veg from your plot. I avoid allotment spinach style greens as they need a shorter cooking time and tend to get bitter if added to the above recipe.