FIVE A DAY CURRY

So apparently we now have to eat 7-10 portions of fruit and veg a day http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26818377. This is lame because I didn't even manage five before so now I have to feel doubly guilty. This recipe is a good one to remedy the guilt. The original recipe is this: Coconut and Spinach with Lemon. As per usual I changed it quite a lot though. The general idea is the same but I added more veg and cheated on the spicing. 

RECIPE

Serves 2 with leftovers

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped roughly
• 2 tbsp curry paste (I used Patak's Rogan Josh)
• 1 courgette, sliced
• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped roughly 
• 4 closed cup mushrooms sliced
• Tin of chickpeas
• 250 ml coconut cream (or tin of coconut milk)
• 400g bag of spinach
• 2 x Sweet potatoes
• 2 tsp Olive oil
• Salt

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius (180 fan). Pierce the skin of the sweet potatoes and rub with 1 tsp olive oil and salt. Place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 45 minutes until soft.

2. Place the rest of the olive oil, onion and curry paste into a deep frying pan over a medium heat. Fry gently for 2 minutes making sure the onion doesn't brown.

3. Add the courgette and mushrooms to the frying pan and fry gently for a further 5 minutes. Then add the chickpeas, tomatoes and 250ml water before adding the coconut cream. Stir and break up the coconut cream gently until it has melted in. Leave this to simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes or until the courgette is soft.

4. Wilt in the spinach by one handful at a time and stirring gently. You should be able to incorporate all 400g if you're patient!

5. Serve the amazing veg concoction over the baked sweet potato. OMNOMNOMNOM.

TIPS AND TWEAKS

This was such a tasty meal and the only reason I used the veg I did was because they were in the fridge. You could use anything! Carrot and cauliflower would be awesome as they curry well. Odd bits of pepper or sweetcorn could be good too. I think just go for it with whatever you have. The essentials are pretty much just the chickpeas, spinach, curry paste and coconut cream. 

Happy Experimenting!