Just one of the many dishes cooked on Sunday at my best friends parents house.  CURRY NIGHT!  Super easy to make when you have a bunch of people over, and really tasty.  If you’re a bit skint, just leave out the cashews :)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium aubergine, 3 small sweet potatoes and 1 large courgette, cubed.  
• 1 small onion, chopped, 100g cashew nuts, 1 tin of chopped tomatoes.
• 1tsp ground 1tsp ground fenugreek (leave out if necessary), 1tsp mustard seeds, 1Ts ground coriander, 1tsp mild chilli powder, 1tsp cumin, 1tsp turmeric, 1tsp sugar, 1/2tsp salt, black pepper.

Method:

• Fry the mustard seeds in a tablespoon of oil until they start to pop, then add the onion and sauté until glassy.  
• Add the spices and vegetables and cook on low for another 5 minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes and 200ml of water, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often.  
• The liquid should be soaked up by the potatoes by now, so add the cashews and cook for a final 5 minutes
• Serve with brown rice and naan bread.  If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, then you could make some onion bhajis (see below).

Easy Onion Bhajis
Ingredients:

• 2 red onions, chopped chunkily,
• 2 cups chickpea flour, 2tsp garam marsala, 1tsp cumin, 1tsp turmeric, 1Ts ground coriander

mix everything in a bowl and add enough water to make a really thick paste/dough.  You need to be able to form into balls.  Fry them in a fair bit of oil, until crispy and browned.  Serve with the curry and ENJOY!

I’m surprised its taken me so long to post this, because its basically my favourite recipe.  Super easy, and really tasty.  The lime juice really completes this dish, and its way nicer with brown rice noodles.

Get this stuff:

• 1 280g block tofu for 2 people, or 2 for 3-4
• 1 can coconut milk
• 2tsp thai green curry paste
• 2tsp brown sugar
• 2tsp ground coriander
• 1tsp ground ginger
• 1 lime
• vegan stock powder
• 1-2 courgettes (zucchini)
• a big handful green beans
• half a supermarket punnet of white or brown mushrooms (is punnet the right word?)
• as many portions of noodles as people eating

1.  Stick the coconut milk, curry paste, sugar and coriander in a deep saucepan and bring to the boil.  Reduce to a simmer and leave to thicken, stirring ocassionally.  

2.  Drain the tofu and wrap it in several sheets of kitchen roll, then a teatowel.  Place a chopping board on top, and balance on anything to weigh it down eg. 4 tins of beans. Leave for 20 minutes to get most of the water out. 

3.  Cut into flat squares and rub with salt, pepper and a little stock powder.  Fry in a tiny bit of oil, on low, flipping ever few minutes, until it is golden brown.  Add to the coconut sauce and leave to soak up the flavours. Set the noddles off boiling.

4.  Chop the vegetables up in fairly large bits, and stir fry for 5 minutes in a little olive or peanut oil, adding the mushrooms a minute or two after the rest.  Squeeze some lime juice, and salt and pepper over them as they cook.

5.  Add a squeeze of lime juice to the sauce and stir in, right before you dish up.  Serve the noodles, place the veg on top, then squeeze more lime on each serving before adding the tofu and coconut sauce, which by now, should have thickened quite a bit.

Enjoy (:

This is quite possibly the cheapest and easiest meal you can make.  DON’T TELL ME BEING VEGAN IS EXPENSIVE! :D Also it tastes amazing.  You will need:

• one white onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 baking sized potatoes, or equivalent (about 500g)
• a tin of chickpeas
• half a bag of spinach
• 1tsp ground coriander and a handful of fresh if you have 
• 2tsp paprika
• 2tsp cumin
• 2tsp mild chilli powder
• 1tsp turmeric (optional)
• 1 cup of stock
• salt and pepper

Peel and chop up the potato into smallish cubes.  Boil in plenty of water until cooked but still firm.  Fry the onion in a little oil until glassy, then add the spices and mix together, frying for another couple of minutes.  Add the stock, chickpeas and potatoes and simmer for 20 minutes.  

It will appear super watery at first but the potatoes will begin to break up and a lot of the water will cook off. Stir in the spinach once it has thickened up.

Season with salt and pepper and alter any flavours, adding chilli for more of a kick, paprika for sweetness or cumin for a fuller flavour.

Serve with rice - brown is better ^.^

YUM

with crunchy veg and rice noodles (serves 4)

After my best friend cooked an amazing Pad Thai for us all last week, I thought I’d give it a go for mothers day dinner.  This is perfect for when you don’t have access to a big city supermarket or heath food store, because all of the ingredients are easy to find - ideal for me, seen as my ‘home’ is in the middle of nowhere.  

In a wok, or large frying pan fry half an onion, with 100g whole unsalted cashew nuts.  Chop up whatever vegetables you want to use, and add when the onions are clear. I used:

• half a red bell pepper
• half a yellow bell pepper
• a large carrot
• a pack of mangetout green beans
• half a head of broccoli
• big handful white mushrooms (add after 5 minutes because they cook quicker than the rest)

Turn the heat down to low and cook for 10 minutes, then add:

• 3tsp red thai curry paste
• 2Ts heaped, peanut butter
• 2Ts soy sauce
• 1tsp stock powder
• 1/2tsp ground ginger
• 2Ts lemon juice
• 1-3tsp brown sugar, to taste
• loads of cracked black pepper

Mix in thoroughly, and keep cooking for 5 minutes.  Adjust the flavours; add a splash more soya sauce or lemon juice if too dry, more peanut butter if too wet, and another tsp curry paste to increase the heat if you need to.

I had to use ‘straight-to-wok’ rice noodles from the supermarket, because that’s all they had, so I just chucked them in, but if you’re using brown rice noodles, boil, drain and rinse them before adding.  Mix in, stir fry for a further 2 minutes and serve.