Wanting a filling and nutritious curry for these cool nights? Something that would also make a stash of handy leftovers for work lunches? Look no further than this easy, veggie-packed curry.
This dish is one of those "put everything in the one pan" meals. You can cook the rice in a separate saucepan while the curry is cooking, or use quick-cook rice sachets, it's up to you. Cooking from dry will save a bit of cash; it will cost somewhere between 85c and $1.00 for 1&1/2 cups of uncooked brown rice, compared to $5.40 for two 250g quick-cook brown rice sachets (at current prices). You could also cook more brown rice than what is required for this recipe, freezing the rest in single serve containers for work lunches.
This meal is packed with a variety of nutritious veg, and will contribute at least 2 serves of your 5+ a day (a half a cup of cooked veg is one serve), along with one serve of wholegrains (the brown rice), and most of a serve of legumes (the chickpeas). It's also full of fibre, vitamins and minerals. And it's tasty!
Veggie-full curry
(makes 6+ serves)
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion, diced
2 tablespoons tandoori paste (or more if you like it warmer)
1 1/2 cups long grain brown rice
2 medium potatoes, scrubbed, skin on, diced
1 kumera, diced
1 tin tomatoes, chopped
1 tin chickpeas, drained
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup frozen peas
To serve:
unsweetened Greek yoghurt
peach and mano chutney
fresh coriander
Heat the oil in a large lidded frypan, and gently cook the onion and tandoori paste until the onion is soft. Add the potatoes, kumera, tomatoes, chickpeas and stock, and bring to the boil. Cover with a lid and reduce heat, simmer for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, put the rice into a large saucepan and add 2 1/2 cups of boiling water. Cover with a lid, bring to the boil then reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Cook for approximately 25 minutes (until all liquid has been absorbed).
Remove the lid from the curry mixture and simmer for a further 15 minutes to thicken the sauce. Add the peas in the last 5 minutes of cooking.
Serve the curry with the brown rice, a dollop of unsweetened Greek yoghurt, and a spoon of peach and mango chutney. Sprinkle with chopped fresh coriander if desired.
Once you have dished out your dinner, pop the leftover rice and curry in some single-serve plastic containers. This will keep in the fridge for a couple of days for lunches, or you can pop them in the freezer to add to your stash of emergency dinners! I use Sistema brand square containers with little plastic click-on labels - I can write the date and a description of the meal before I file them in the freezer. This saves those "I wonder what that is?" moments, when you're hunting through for a meal to defrost!