Alex makes chef and food writer Nina Parker’s curry recipe so often that she created a new one and named it after her!
This is a very simple curry paste that can easily be frozen and you can adapt the vegetables depending on what is in season. So for spring, I would use asparagus, peas and roasted broccoli; come summer, add roasted aubergine, tomatoes and green beans; in autumn, try pumpkin or sweet potato and cauliflower. This is great for using up any leftover odds and ends of vegetables that you have lying around at the end of the week. Serve with plain rice.
Serves 4. Vegan / GF
Ingredients:
3 tbsp sunflower oil
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
200g button mushrooms
800ml hot vegetable stock
2 cans of coconut milk (800ml)
80g baby corn, sliced lengthways
2 pak choy, chopped
2 handfuls of chopped cashews
2 spring onions, thinly sliced (optional)
Zest of 1 lime and the juice of half, plus extra lime wedges for serving
For the roast squash:
1 medium squash (1300g), peeled, deseeded and chopped into even chunks
5 tbsp sunflower oil
Pinch of salt and pepper
For the paste:
1 banana shallot, peeled and halved
8 cloves garlic, peeled
2 small thumbs ginger (45g), peeled
2 lemongrass, ends trimmed and roughly chopped
2 mild medium chillis (depending on heat preference), tops trimmed and roughly chopped
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
50g fresh coriander
Method:
Preheat the oven to 190C and prepare a large baking tray. Add the squash and toss in the oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes or until golden and cooked.
While it roasts, you can start on the paste. Throw all the ingredients for the paste into a blender and mix until it makes a rough paste.
Set a large saucepan to a medium heat and add 3 spoons of sunflower oil.
Then add the chopped carrot and fry for 3 mins before scraping in the curry paste and remaining 2 spoons of oil.
Allow this to simmer for 4-5 mins until cooked through.
Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to the boil, then down to a simmer for 2 minutes until the carrots are cooked. Then add the coconut milk, baby corn, pak choy and mushrooms, and cook for 3 minutes before removing from the heat.
Scrape in the roast squash, zest of lime and a squeeze of the juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve straight away with rice, lime wedge, cashews and spring onions on top. This curry also freezes well!
