This veggie curry is a versatile dish, which can make use of any available vegetables in your kitchen and can be tweaked and modified in myriad ways. The recipe I am going to share here is based on one that I recently produced for one of our Yoga retreats which Elisa runs throughout the year with a little help from me(!) 

It is spicy but not too spicy on this occasion and the time I made it was to feed 18 of us, so I am going to try & scale back the quantities of the ingredients to suit 5-6 people.

For details of our future one day & residential yoga retreats visit www.elisawilliamsyoga.com



INGREDIENTS


Olive oil
1 tbsp Mild Curry Powder
1 tbsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1 vegetable stock cube
Curry leaves (dry or fresh) – roughly one handful
1 tbsp easy garlic or 3-4 cloves chopped fresh garlic
1 tbsp easy ginger or 1 ‘thumb’ size, chopped finely
1 tin of tomatoes or fresh or a combination
1 tin coconut milk
3 or 4 sun dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
1 smallish onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, chopped
Cavolo Nero cabbage, chopped – a good handful
French or runner beans, cut into 3 cm lengths
3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 courgette, cut into 1 cm thick discs and halved
1 pack paneer cheese, cubed
1small pack frozen garden peas
Fresh coriander and fresh mint to taste (for garnish)

METHOD

in a large frying pan or wok, heat the olive oil on a high heat, throw in the mustard seeds and once they start popping and sizzling, add the chopped onions.

Boil some water and make the vegetable stock and leave in a separate pan for use later on.

Once the onions are starting to go golden brown on the edges, reduce the heat and add the curry powder, paprika and chilli flakes. Stir well and combine it making sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. Add some of the stock to create a thinnish sauce to help the flavours to mix well.

Add the potatoes, squash, courgette, then pour in the coconut milk, add the curry leaves and stir well. Raise the heat if necessary and simmer for 20 mins. Add the tomatoes, cavolo nero and beans and let the mixture continue to bubble for another 10-15 minutes.

NB – At this point, I take the mixture off the heat, then add the paneer to marinate in the fridge for a few hours or overnight
 as I believe this really enhances the flavour.

However, if you can’t wait, then simply carry on cooking, making sure to check the potatoes are fully cooked through.

Finally, add the frozen peas and let them gently heat through for a couple of minutes, before transferring into a serving bowl with chopped coriander and mint sprinkled generously over the top.

Serve with basmati rice and/or flatbread or a plain naan bread.

FINALLY

Some other additions you could add could be lava beans and chick peas for a vegan option. Or you could add chopped hard boiled egg, or some raw king prawns that can be cooked in the mixture at the same stage as the tomatoes.

Other vegetables could include sweet potato, mushrooms, pumpkin and parsnips – it is always worth experimenting and making use of what is plentiful according to the season

Enjoy!

Namaste
Dom


Elisa & Dominic Williams run yoga holidays & yoga retreats in Asia & Europe and regular One Day Yoga Retreats in the UK. Visit: www.elisawilliamsyoga.comwww.elisawilliamsyoga.com
for details