I’ve made this curry quite mild, more like a Tikka as it’s for a young family, but feel free to add more spices if you like it hotter. With the pakoras and chapatis it’s quite filling as well as containing plenty of your 5-A-Day.

Day 5
Breakfast
Porridge or toast

Lunch
Eggs and cress sandwiches

Dinner
Mild coconut curry with butternut squash, pakoras and chapati

snack
Easy vanilla biscuits, fruit

…

Coconut & butternut curry with chapatis & pakoras

Serves 4

Ingredients for the coconut curry

500g Defrosted squash
1/2 a teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cooking oil
400ml tin coconut milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 fresh lime
6 tablespoons of desiccated coconut
1 cinnamon stick

Ingredients for the curry paste

2 large onions, roughly chopped
8-10 garlic cloves
2.5mm square of fresh root ginger chopped or 1 teaspoon of powdered ginger
2 teaspoons turmeric powder
2 stalks lemongrass, or 1 teaspoon of lemon grass paste
2 fresh chillies, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons Chinese 5 spice powder
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Method

Firstly blitz all the curry paste ingredients together.

Next toast the desiccated coconut in a dry saucepan until lightly golden. The smell will tell you when they are ready, don’t let them burn by keeping it moving with a wooden spoon.

Tip the coconut into a bowl to be used later.

Next heat the oil in the same pan and add the paste ingredients to cook through for 5 minutes.

Then add the coconut milk, salt, sugar and cinnamon stick and simmer with the lid on for about 20 minutes.

Add the butternut squash and give it all a stir once to cover everything, but not break up the squash.

Simmer for 10 minutes to heat through the squash that has be precooked

Stir in the desiccated coconut and the lime juice just before serving.

Season to taste and scatter with coriander and sliced red chilli if you have it.

Serve with the homemade chapatis and pakoras.

Pakoras

Ingredients

Vegetable oil for frying
150g plain flour
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon of curry powder
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons of garam masala
1/2 chilli finely chopped (optional)
1 medium onions thinly sliced
75ml cold water
1 grated carrot

method for the pakoras

While your curry cooks make your pakoras. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, then add the sliced and grated vegetables and stir everything together, add the water and mix with your hands until everything is coated.

Heat 2 inches of oil in a deep frying pan and gently fry a tablespoon of the mixture until golden on both sides a few at a time. Flattening the pakoras will help them cook a little quicker.

When they are cooked drain them with a slotted spoon and pop them in the oven on some kitchen paper to absorb the oil, while you finish the others and the curry. You’ll end up making 20 small pakoras.

Makes 4 chapatis

Ingredients for the chapatis

150g chapati (or plain) flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tablespoon of oil
90ml water
1/4 teaspoon salt

Method for the chapatis

Sift the flour in a bowl with the salt and make a dip in the middle.

Pour in the oil and mix together with a fork, then add the water and mix with your hands until you have a dough. Add more flour or water until you get the right consistency

Rest for about 1 hour before rolling out if you have time.

On a flour-dusted surface, roll into a long sausage and cut into 4 equal slices. Then roll each one into a ball.

With a rolling pin, roll each ball thinly to about 8-10 inches and place on a plate with a dusting of flour between them.

In a dry frying pan cook the chapatis on each side for about a minute or until cooked but not too coloured. Stack them and keep them warm in a low oven until needed.