It's Cold. Quick, Someone Make A Curry.

 Salads are all good during the summer, but on a chilly winter night, nothing beats a steaming curry or casserole. This week I tried this vegetable jalfrezi (recipe courtesy of Jamie Oliver) and it was quite delicious, if I may say so myself. And I don't normally like vegetarian dishes at all. A good one to cook for a group of friends, you can prepare and put it on before everyone arrives then just let it simmer as the guests get acquainted. 

Vegetable Jalfrezi

You'll need:

• 1 medium onion
• 1 fresh red chilli
• a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger
• 2 cloves of garlic
• a small bunch of fresh coriander
• 2 red peppers
• 1 cauliflower
• 3 ripe tomatoes
• 1 small butternut squash
• 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
• groundnut or vegetable oil
• a knob of butter
• ½ a 283g jar of Patak’s jalfrezi curry paste
• 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 2 lemons
• 200g natural yoghurt

What to do... 

1. Peel, halve and roughly chop your onion. Finely slice the chilli. Peel and finely slice the ginger and garlic. Pick the coriander leaves and finely chop the stalks. Halve, deseed and roughly chop the peppers. Break the green leaves off the cauliflower and discard. Break the cauliflower into florets and roughly chop the stem. Quarter the tomatoes. Carefully halve the butternut squash, then scoop out the seeds with a spoon and discard. Slice the squash into inch-size wedges, leaving the peel on but removing any thick skin, then roughly chop into smaller pieces. Drain the chickpeas. 

2. Put a large casserole-type pan on a medium to high heat and add a couple of lugs of oil and the butter. Add the onions, chilli, ginger, garlic and coriander stalks and cook for 10 minutes, until softened and golden. Add the peppers, butternut squash, drained chickpeas and jalfrezi curry paste. Stir well to coat everything with the paste. Add the cauliflower, the fresh and tinned tomatoes and the vinegar. Fill 1 empty tin with water, pour into the pan and stir again. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 45 minutes with the lid on. Check the curry after 30 minutes and, if it still looks too liquidy, leave the lid off for the rest of the cooking time. When the veg are tender, taste and add salt and pepper – please season carefully – and a squeeze of lemon juice. 

3. Delicious with poppadums or my fluffy rice recipe and with a few spoonfuls of natural yoghurt, a sprinkle of coriander leaves and a few lemon wedges for squeezing over.