Recently me and Mrs Cookins have been looking at ways to reduce our meat usage and upping our veg intake. Now one of my bad habits is that I always think of veg as a side when i’m prepping a meal and not the main focus, always choosing meat/fish as the star of the show. This is one thing I feel most people have a similar issue with, but when you see past that it creates a new cooking focus. My new fav is looking at all the veg out there and how I can build up textures and flavours within a dish, experimenting with what creates a great base and how you layer in different tastes.

Now on to the curry. This one came about from looking into traditional Indian food and how they tend to go for a more plant based dish anyway. I also wanted to focus my dish around seasonal veg, seeing as all the shops at the moment have great offers on winter roots and brassicas.

Ingredients

• 2x Sweet Potato
• 1x Large Onion
• Half Cauliflower
• 1x Large Carrot
• Bunch Coriander
• 2 big handfuls of Baby Spinach
• Coconut Cream
• 500ml Veg Stock
• Garlic Paste
• Ginger Paste

Spice Mix

• Turmeric
• Coriander
• Cumin
• Chilli
• Ginger
• Nutmeg
• Garlic granules

Method

Dice the onion, put oil and butter in a pan and then sauté until translucent. To the pan add the garlic and ginger paste and cook for a couple minutes. Combine the spice mix with a tablespoon of oil and add to the pan, let this cook for a minute or two until the edges brown. Next add the stock and let this reduce to a simmer.

This is where you need to chop your veg in to bite size piece, add to the pan and stir around coating all the veg in the sauce. Cook for 5mins before transferring to a pre-heated oven at 180c for 30mins, this should allow the veg to cook down and absorb the sauce.

Separately boil a pan of water and blanch the spinach for 2 minutes. Add this and half a can of coconut cream to a blender then grate in nutmeg adding a pinch of salt and pepper. Blend up and taste adding more seasoning as desired.

Take out the curry from the oven, chop coriander and scatter over the top along with lashings of the spinach and coconut sauce. For that extra finishing touch, splash with some more of the coconut cream like you’re creating a Jackson Pollock and serve.

S.C.