Recipe: Vegetable curry & home made naans
Cards on the table here folks, we love our meat. Nearly every recipe featured so far has involved meat of one sort or another, so nobody would ever suspect us of being closet vegetarians. But that ’ s not to say we won ’ t eat vegetarian food, as long as it ’ s as tasty as this curry. Trust us, you won ’ t miss the meat, and you certainly won ’ t be hungry after eating this curry, with home made naan bread. Ingredients for the curry 1 tbsp vegetable oil 1 finely chopped onion 3 cardamom pods, bashed 2 tsp each of cumin and coriander seeds 1/2 tsp ground turmeric 1 green chilli, deseeded if you like it really mild 1 crushed garlic clove 2 cm piece of ginger, finely chopped 200g frozen peas 300 - 500 ml hot vegetable stock (from a cube if you like) 200 ml yogurt 2 tbsp ground almonds (optional) That ’ s everything except the vegetables. You need about 800g of your chosen vegetables, chopped into 2 cm cubes. You can used any “ hard ” veg such as carrots, parsnips, potato, courgette, sweet potato, butternut squash. But don ’ t include veg that goes mushy, like tomatoes. To prepare the curry Heat the oil in a large pan. Cook onion with the dry spices over a low heat for 5 - 6 mins until the onion is light golden. Add the chilli, garlic and ginger and cook for 1 min, then throw in the mixed vegetables and cook for a further 5 mins.
For the naan bread, you need: - 1 x 7g sachet dried yeast 2 tsp golden caster sugar 300g strong white bread flour, plus some for dusting 1/2 tsp baking powder 25g butter or ghee, melted, plus 2 - 3 tbsp for the tray and brushing 150 ml natural yogurt
Put 125ml warm water into a bowl and sprinkle over the yeast and 1 tsp of the sugar. Leave for 10 - 15 mins or until frothy. In a larger bowl, put the flour, remaining sugar, ½ tsp salt and baking powder. Mix together then make a well in the centre in which to pour the melted butter, yogurt, nigella seeds and yeast mixture.
Stir well, then start to bring the mixture together with your hands. If it ’ s very wet add a spoonful of flour but if it ’ s dry add a splash more warm water. It should be a very soft dough but not so wet that it won ’ t come together into a ball. When you ’ re happy with the consistency, start kneading, first in the bowl, then transfer the mixture onto a well - floured surface and continue to knead for 10 mins or until smooth and elastic but still soft. Butter a large bowl, then shape the dough into a ball and place in the prepared bowl. Cover and leave in a warm place for about 1 hr or until doubled in size. Divide the dough into six balls and put them on a baking tray dusted with flour, then cover the tray with a damp tea towel. Heat a large non - stick frying pan over a high heat. Take one of the balls of dough and roll it out to form a teardrop shape that ’ s approximately 21cm long and around 13cm at the widest part. When the pan is very hot, carefully lay the naan bread into it. Let it dry fry and puff up for about 3 mins, then turn over and cook on the other side for another 3 - 4 mins or until cooked through and charred in patches. Heat the oven to its lowest setting and put the cooked naan bread on a baking sheet. Brush with a little melted butter and cover with foil. Keep warm in the oven and layer up the cooked naans one on top of each other as you make them, brushing each one with melted butter or ghee as you go. Ghee: A “ cheats ghee ” is easily made by melting some butter until it starts to foam, then skimming off the foam, and adding some good olive oil to the mix. Not quite authentic, but vvery easy. The benefit of ghee is that it has a high burn temperature, and it is widely used in Indian cooking. To Serve Serve with simple basmati rice, cooked in a ratio of one cup rice to two cups boiling water. Cover and simmer for about 15 mins until the water has evaporated, and making sure the pot doesn ’ t boil completely dry.
Add the stock, and simmer for 10 mins Add the peas, cooking until the veg are nice and tender.
Remove from the heat and stir through the yogurt and ground almonds, if using. Serve sprinkled with the toasted almonds and coriander, with basmati rice or naan bread on the side.
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