Friday night is curry night so we decided to cook one of our favorite vegetarian dishes Sag Aloo. We cook this once a month anyway.

To go with the curry I saved a little of the fresh coriander from the night before, sealing it in a freezer bag and putting it in the fridge. It keeps for ages that way.

We also make some homemade chapatis/nann kind of bread. We would make normal chapatis but we don’t have the right flour. But these are just as good. My Asian friend says I’m the only non-asian person she knows that makes chapatis from scratch. I think they are so much nicer than shop bought anyway.

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Friday

Breakfast
Toast and lemon curd or porridge and blueberries or sultanas

Lunch
leftover falafel, hummus and salad pitta pockets or egg on toast

Dinner
Sag Aloo with chapati

Snacks
Healthy brownies and work banana or Orange and apple

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RECIPES

Potato curry
Adapted from Jamie Oliver Save with Jamie book

Serves 4 with leftovers

Ingredients

2 tomatoes finely diced
2 tablespoons of homemade curry paste
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 large potatoes
1-2 peppers roughly chopped
200g frozen spinach, defrosted
3 tablespoons natural yogurt to serve

Method for the Sag Aloo

First make your curry paste by toasting the spices in a dry pan shaking them until they are going golden and start to smell delicious. Crush these until powdered.

Then peel the garlic and ginger and add all the rest of the ingredients, including the toasted spices, in a blender and whizz together. This is your curry paste.

Now wash and cut the potatoes in to 3cm chunks, leave the skins on if you want.

Heat some oil in a pan and gentle fry the potatoes for 3-4 mintutes. Then add the tomatoes and curry paste to the pan, with pinch of salt and pepper and cook for 5 more minutes.

Add boiling water to halfway cover the potatoes, stir and cover with a lid. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10-15 minutes until cooked through but still firm.

You can make the chapati dough while this is cooking so they are ready to cook after the curry is ready.

Remove the lid, then add the peppers and turn up to a medium heat until the liquid is reduced for about 15 minutes. Stir regularly to stop it sticking.

When the potatoes and peppers are ready, squeeze the liquid out of your spinach and add to the curry and cook for a further 5 minutes, while you cook the chapatis.

Scatter with chopped coriander to serve.

 

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Curry Paste

Ingredients For the Curry Paste

1/3 bunch coriander (100g)
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cooking oil
3 tablespoons tomato purée
1/2 teaspoon chilli seeds

Spices for toasting

3 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon black peppercorns

 

Method for the Rogan Josh Curry Paste

First toast the spices in a dry pan until they go golden and start to smell delicious. Grind these until powdered.

Peel the garlic and ginger and add all the rest of the ingredients, including the toasted spices, in to a jug and blend together.

This is the base of the curry flavour.

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Chapatis

Makes 12 chapatis

Ingredients for the Chapatis

150g Strong bread flour
100g Plain flour
2 tablespoons oil
150ml water

Method

Place the flour in a bowl with a pinch of 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.

On a flour dusted surface roll into a long sausage and cut into 12 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.

When the curry is ready, in a dry frying pan cook the chapatis on each side for about a minute or until cooked but not coloured. Stack them and keep warm until needed.