I once wrote a book entitled "Voyaging on a Small Income" and the parts about provisioning and cooking proved very popular. "The Voyaging Vegetarian" would have followed, but so few people were then vegetarians that I thought no-one would publish it. Now many more people realise that eating dead animals is unkind and bad for the planet. I hope a blog, which I can update with new recipes, will work better than a book for liveaboards and aspiring voyagers, and those living simply in small spaces.
Back in the 80s, I wrote a book called "Voyaging on a Small Income", which was published and sold astonishingly well. It’s become almost a “classic” and is probably why you’ve found this site!
I’ve been living aboard and sailing since the 70s. Nine different boats have been home, sometimes for several months, sometimes for many years. I love the way of life, the small footprint and being close to Nature. I’m a great fan of junk rig and having extensive experience with both gaff and bermudian rig, I wouldn’t have any other sail on my boat. It’s ideal as a voyaging rig, but also perfect for the coastal sailing that I now do. I’d rather stay in New Zealand, not having to keep saying goodbye to friends, than go voyaging, these days.
Between 2015 and 2021, I built the 26ft "FanShi", the boat I now call home. For the last 45 years or so, my diet of choice has been vegetarian and is now almost vegan. I love cooking and particularly enjoy having only myself to please. I am combining all these interests (apart, perhaps, from junk rig!) in this blog. I hope you enjoy it. I also have other blogs: www.anniehill.blogspot.com and http://fanshiwanderingandwondering.wordpress.com
This
is a great recipe for showcasing Brussels sprouts – a very
underrated vegetable in my opinion. When they are unavailable, they
can be replaced with courgettes. Having both dal and vegetables in
the one pot, means that cooking a proper meal is a simpler process
and serving it with rice or roti will complete the protein for best
nutrition. Carrots, are also underrated and in combination with the
sprouts will provide a good selection of minerals and vitamins and
cooked with the bright yellow mung dal, you end up with a very
attractive dish. Mung dal are one of my favourite legumes; they cook
quickly and have their own distinct flavour. They don’t break down
quite as much as split lentils (masoor), but are softer than chana
dal. I use them a lot.
The
original recipe ends up with completely softened sprouts and carrots.
I like well-cooked carrots, but prefer my Brussels a bit firmer.
Please see the * Note for alternative cooking.
Serves
2
Ingredients
2
tsp oil
1/2
tsp mustard seeds
1/4
tsp fennel seeds
1
Indian bay leaf
a
generous pinch of asafoetida
1
green chilli chopped
2
large garlic cloves, chopped OR 1 tsp garlic paste
1/4
tsp turmeric powder
1
medium tomato chopped
dried
fenugreeek leaves or chilli flakes
1/2
cup yellow mung dal
1
3/4 cups water
1/2
tsp salt or more to taste
1/4
cup chopped carrots
10
to 12 large Brussels sprouts, or equivalent smaller ones
Method
Trim
the sprouts removing the discoloured leaves and excess stem.
Depending on their size, half, quarter them or leave them whole.
Put a
saucepan over a medium heat, add oil and heat it.
Add mustard
seeds and wait for them to sputter.
Then mix in
the asafoetida, fennel seeds and bayleaf.
Cook for about half a minute
Add the
chilli and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until
the garlic browns evenly. (If you’re using garlic paste, add at
the next stage, otherwise it will spit all over the place.
Throw in the carrots and Brusselssprouts*,
if you like them soft cooked. (See
Note) You can add some other veggies depending on
availability and preference. Cook them for a minute.
Now
add the tomato, turmeric and cook for 2-3 minutes
until the tomato gets mushy.
Add
the dal to the pan with salt, and water and mix
well.
Cook covered
on a low heat for 20-30 minutes, until the mung dal is tender.
Serve hot,
with dried fenugreek leaves or red chilli flakes and roti/naan or rice. I like cumin rice with it. (Cook the rice. Fry 1/2 tsp cumin seeds in a small pan until brown and savoury and pour over the rice.)
Note:
To make this gluten free, leave out the asafoetida.
*
If you like your Brussels sprouts firm, I suggest cooking the
recipe as written, but adding the Brussels sprouts when the dal
starts to soften, depending on whether you want them almost crunchy
or merely al dente. This unfortunately is a bit hit and
miss, depending on how big the sprouts are. Better to put them in
too late and then add some more water if the dal is drying out, than
put them in too early and overcook them.
To
refresh the dal the next day, make a new tempering: add a teaspoon
of oil, to a small frying pan, heat on medium, add 1/4 tsp
mustard seeds, a bay leaf and chilli flakes.
Wait for the mustard seeds to sputter. Pour this over the heated dal
and serve.
Variations:
Substitute 1/4
cup (31 g) chopped or grated courgette for the sprouts.
This recipe is so freely adapted from
the more authentic ones, that I hardly dare to put it into ‘Curries
for Cooks’. However, as it uses one or two spices/herb which only
dedicated curry cooks are likely to have on board, that’s how I
shall categorise it. (This, of course, assumes that anyone ever
looks at the pages on this blog!)
I made this when I had been ‘off my
food’ for a while and unable to face the thought of any Indian
food. As I generally adore such recipes, this was a personal tragedy
at the time. I had been sent a malai recipe in one of my blog feeds,
and it attracted my attention as having not too many spices and
looking like something might tempt my appetite. The recipe in
question was for paneer, which I can’t obtain locally (and as an
aspiring vegan, try to avoid), I looked to see if there were any more
recipes on the Internet and came across a mushroom malai, with even
fewer spices – perhaps too few- so I took a bit from both recipes.
When I came to look more closely, I
discovered that these ‘white’ curries usually contain cashew nuts
(this isn’t just a vegan spin on Indian food: a lot of Indian
recipes call for cashews), which I don’t include and malai, which
means cream, which I also left out. Vegan versions use cashew nut
cream; vegetarian versions seem to use cream plus some yoghurt, which
I think is because Indian cream is thicker than what is available in
most countries (the UK being – or was! - a notable exception) and
sounds more like ‘double cream’. Anyway, this is all irrelevant,
because I simply used a goodly amount of nice, thick yoghurt.
The onions, garlic and ginger are meant
to be ground to a paste in a blender. I couldn’t be bothered
(another side effect of the appetite loss) and simply diced them very
finely. They certainly didn’t intrude.
Matar, by the way, means peas, so they
are, strictly, essential. Otherwise it will be simply mushroom
malai. I used freeze-dried peas – essential voyagers’
provisions. The curry, even with all my alterations, was incredibly
good. I could have scoffed the lot – so obviously it also restored
my appetite for Indian food!!
I have made it several times since, and
it has become one of my favourite ways to eat mushrooms. I’ve been
tweaking the spices to keep the curry mellow, but with lots of
flavour and, having now got it about right, I feel I can finally post
the recipe. If you’re not fond of too much chilli, leave out the
chillies and simply use the Kashmiri chilli powder. I have even made
this recipe without any cream, yoghurt or cream substitute and it is
still delicious. I’m afraid the photos don’t show a white
curry: the button mushroom that I buy locally, always turn any sauce
brown. Oyster mushrooms would probably produce a lighter-coloured
sauce. Use as many mushrooms as you think you can eat: this isn’t
a particularly filling meal.
Serves 2
Ingredients
1½ tbsp ghee or oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 small piece mace
1 or 2 green chillies,
chopped
1 small onion, finely
diced
1/2 tsp ginger paste
2 garlic cloves, finely
diced or 1/2 tsp garlic paste
2 green cardamoms,
seeds only
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli
powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp water
2 cups of white
mushrooms quartered
1/2 cup thick yoghurt,
thinned to pouring consistency
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup freeze-dried
peas
1/4 tsp ground white
pepper or black, if that’s all you have
1/4 tsp garam masala
1 tsp kasuri methi
(dried fenugreek leaves)
Method:
Heatthe ghee in a
heavy-based saucepan and sizzle the cumin seeds and
mace.
Add the chilli and cook for
a few moments.
Now add the onion, ginger,
garlic, cardamom seeds, coriander, chilli powder and salt.
Cook for a couple of minutes, lower the heat and add the water.
(This is to stop the vegetables browning). Cook until the onions,
etc are soft adding a drop more water if necessary.
Now raise the heat once more, add
the mushrooms and cook for a few minutes, ensuring that they
are well-covered in the ghee/spice/aromatics mixture.
When the mushrooms are starting to
soften, add the peas and a
drop more water if necessary.
Cook
for another four or five minutes and then stir in the yoghurt
and cinnamon and bring everything to a very gentle boil. Now
turn the heat right down until the mixture is barely simmering and
add the pepper.
Put a lid on and simmer until the
mushrooms are cooked. Remove the lid so that the sauce can thicken
to the consistency you want, then add the methi and garam
masala. Cook very gently for another couple of minutes.
Serve with roti, brown basmati rice, or
cumin rice if you prefer.
Notes:
Whole mace, unlike the
ground variety, has a surprisingly intense flavour. If you’re not
used to using it, be careful how much you add. I broke off a piece
about the size of a small cardamom pod
Variations:
This recipe would be a good one
for voyagers who make their own yoghurt, or have cream on board or
have cashews and a grinder. I would suggest that if using dairy
cream, you would add some powdered milk to thicken it.
For a more filling meal, add ½
cup chickpeas or white beans, soaked, cooked and drained. Or a can.
This is quite a quick meal to make
because you can just add everything in order, stirring to ensure
that it’s all mixed as you don’t want the fried vegetables and
spices to turn brown
This recipe is very freely adapted
from one of Vegan Richa’s. For a ‘real’ curry, there are no
weird and wonderful spices and there aren’t too many of them,
either, which made me feel that the recipe might be tackled by a cook
who likes curry, but doesn’t want to faff around too much. It’s
a one-pot meal and Swiss chard, if bought very fresh and looked after
with loving care, will last for 4 or 5 days, which will take you well
into a thousand-mile passage. Spinach would also go very well in
this recipe.
Black-eyed peas are quite popular in
Indian cuisine and have the advantage that they don’t need soaking.
They also need the same time to cook as brown basmati rice, so make
a perfect match. This is a very pleasant curry, even following my
method rather than making it the ‘right way’, which involves a
blender and thus some awkward washing up.
Serves
2
Ingredients
1 tbsp of oil or ghee
1 medium onion, sliced
1 green chilli pepper,
chopped
1 tsp ginger paste or
chopped ginger
3
cloves garlic, diced
1/2
tsp salt
1 tsp garam masala
1/4
tsp ground cinnamon
1/4
tsp ground cardamom (seedsif you don’t have ground)
2 medium tomatoes,
chopped
3 or 4 large leaves of
Swiss chard
1/2 cup brown basmati
rice
1/2
cup dried black-eyed peas
2½
cups water
salt
1/2 tsp kasuri methi/dried fenugreek leaves
Method:
Heat the
oil in the pressure cooker over medium heat. Add the onion,
chilli, ginger and garlic, sprinkle over the
salt and mix it in.
Cook until the onion is
translucent.
Now add the garammasala,
cinnamon, and cardamom, lower the heat and cook until
the spices smell fragrant.
Stir in the chopped tomatoes
and cook for several minutes until they become juicy. Loosely
cover and add a tablespoon of water if the mix seems to be getting
to dry: it very much depends on your tomatoes.
In the meantime, dice the chard.
Don’t worry that there won’t be any texture after it has been
cooked: the original recipe calls for it to be blended.
Now add the black-eyedpeas to the pressure cooker, together with the rice
and the water.
Put on
the lid, bring up to pressure and cook for 10 minutes, let the
pressure reduce naturally.
Taste the mixture: you will
probably need more salt. If it seems very wet, let it
simmer over a low heat until some of the water evaporates. The
amount of moisture will depend on both the tomatoes and the greens.
Add the dried fenugreek,
if you’re using it.
Serve hot, maybe with roti
if you’re really hungry!
Note:
If you are using spinach,
you would want ‘ bunch’. It is usually sold in an unspecified
amount, but as it’s not filling and it shrinks away to nothing
once you heat it, unless the bunch looks enormous you’re
unlikely to have too much.
Variation:
Try other greens, such as mustard
greens or spring cabbage.
Whole lentils would also
work with this recipe, as would mung beans.
Long grain brown rice
should also cook satisfactorily in the same time as the black-eyed
beans. If yours seems to take a very long time, I suggest adding
it with the water and cooking it for a few minutes, letting the
pressure reduce, then adding the beans and spinach to ensure that
the rice is cooked through without cooking the beans to a mush.
A lot of dals and curries
are made without any additional vegetables apart from garlic, onions
and chilli. While the myriad vegetable side dishes that exist
in Indian cooking, are both delicious and fun to make, if I want to
have rice, I often don’t want to have another pan to wash up, or
have to make smaller portions of each dish, so that I don’t end up
with too much food. I usually make enough for two meals, and
eat the leftovers for breakfast (don’t knock it until you’ve
tried it!), but I don’t like having the same dinner two nights on
the run. The solution to this issue is to make a pulao that
also contains vegetables.
Carrots are an epic voyaging vegetable,
particularly if you can buy them from a market or greengrocer,
unscrubbed and unrefrigerated. While no doubt many voyagers
would make a carrot and cabbage salad to go with curry, I confess to
preferring both carrots and cabbage cooked rather than raw.
Grated carrots and shredded carrots do, however, use less of your
precious provisions if you are trying to eke them out over a long
passage.
I came to make this, one night in summer, thinking that I wasn't particularly hungry (I often lose my usually-healthy appetite in very hot weather). Just as I had opened the recipe, I suddenly realised that I was hungry and decided to add some lentils to the mix. I put 1/2 cup of lentils into the pan; 10 minutes later I added the rice and 10 minutes after that, the chopped carrot. Then followed the recipe as shown below. I have to say it was delicious and satisfying - if not particularly authentic!!
Serves 2
Ingredients
1/2 cup brown basmati rice
1 large or 2 small carrots, grated
or diced
4 tsp ghee, coconut or vegetable oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1
tsp cumin seeds
Indian bay leaf (or
some diced, salted lime)
20 cashew nuts (or equivalent if
yours are broken)
1 small onion, finely chopped/
4 green chillis, slit
lengthwise or diced*
1/2 tsp turmeric
salt to
taste
Instructions:
Cook the basmati rice in a cup of
salted water. If you are using diced carrots, add these after about
ten minutes.
Add a tsp of ghee or oil to a frying pan and heat
it over a high flame.
Add the mustard seeds, cumin, bay leaf (or lime) and heat until they sizzle and pop.
Now, add the
cashews and fry them for a few minutes.
Once the cashews
turn golden brown, add the chopped onion and green chillis. Reduce the
heat and fry until the onion turns translucent.
If you are
using grated carrot, add this and fry for a minute until it shrinks
and changes in colour.
When the carrot is cooked, add turmeric and salt to taste. Mix thoroughly.
Now add the cooked
rice (and cooked, diced carrot).
Mix again gently, and cook
for another minute.
Serve this carrot pilau with dal or curry. You
can also serve it for a light meal with yoghurt or raita, if you like. Pappadoms also go well.
Note:
* use fewer chillies if you think four seems a bit excessive.
This is my adaptation of TawaPulao, an Indian fried rice dish, made with vegetables and
seasoned with the PavBhaji blend of spices. Pavbhaji is a vegetable (bhaji)
street food, served with bread (pav),
so the spice blend goes well with vegetable dishes. Tawapulao is usually served as a light meal, or with dal, but I
have added lentils to it, to turn it into a main-course meal. I cook
the rice and lentils in the same pan and then add them to the
almost-cooked vegetable. The great thing about this recipe is that
it’s one of those that you can use for clearing out your fresh food
locker. I suggest ‛typical’ vegetables, but I’ve found most
things work in it. The ideal, however, is to have a little of
several vegetables rather than a lot of one or two. I prepare about
a cup and a half of diced vegetables, in addition to the onion. If
you want to keep the recipe more like the street-style tawa,
but still want a full meal, double up on the potato, increase the
other vegetables and leave out the lentils.
To make the recipe accessible for those
who don’t really want to deal with half a dozen or more different
spices, I am suggesting you make it with a ready-mixed pavbhaji spice blend, the recipe for which you can find here
and at the end of this recipe. You might be able to buy it online,
if you don’t want to make it yourself. If all else fails, I
suppose you could add curry powder, instead, although it will taste
quite different.
1 medium tomato, chopped OR 2 tbsp
tomato paste and 1/4 cup water
1/2 medium red and/or green pepper,
diced
1 carrot,
diced
1 small
potato, diced
1/4 cup
freeze-dried peas, if available, soaked in 1/4 cup of water
salt to taste
Method
Add the
rice and lentils to the water and cook until
they are just softened.
Heat some oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add
the onion and cook until it’s translucent.
Now add
the ginger,garlic,cumin, and fennel seeds
Mix everything well and cook for a minute.
Add the
pav bhaji and cayenne
to the pan, mix again and cook for another minute.
Stir in
the tomatoes, pepper, carrot
and potato.
Stir to make sure everything is well combined. Lower the heat and
cook until the tomatoes are completely softened and form a sauce.
Now add the peas and their
water, and salt. Combine
with the other ingredients and lower the heat.
Stir in the rice and lentils and
gently mix everything really well. Increase the heat to
medium-high.
Cook until everything is heated
through and softened. If the rice and lentils are not quite soft,
lower the heat and cook under a lid until they’re done, adding a
drop more water if necessary to stop them burning.
Notes:
All the recipes that I’ve seen
include tomatoes, peas and peppers, and usually potatoes and
carrots, but if you don’t have them, the meal will still taste
fantastic.
Like most Indian food, the flavour
improves with time. If you cook extra, you can use it to stuff
samosa. I like the leftovers for breakfast.
Variations:
Other
vegetables such as finely chopped cabbage,
sweet potato, green
beans chopped root
vegetables can be used instead
of, or as well as the vegetables in the recipe.
I find it hard to get excited about courgettes. Baby ones, fried in good olive oil and garlic are delicious, but that’s largely because of the olive oil and the garlic. They sop up the flavours well. They are also good in ratatouille, especially with cannellini beans, for the same reason and indeed, can be used in all sorts of soups and stews; however when there’s a glut of them, it isn’t usually the time of year that you want to eat soup and stew. Now I realise, that to many people, curry is not only similar to a stew, but because of the chilli and warming spices, might seem even less appealing in hot weather, but I adore curry and can eat it any time and in any weather. so to me it is a perfect way of using a bounty of courgettes. I already have a recipe for courgette with chana dal, however this recipe is is quite different and more of a side dish than a main one, althoughI have some suggestions for using it as a main course. However, you can add as many courgettes as you want (maybe up the spices a litle) to make it into a full main course, without any extra additions, if you want to use them up. This is a pretty straightforward recipe and I think most people would be happy to tackle it, but because it uses non-standard ingredients, I'll call it a Curry for Cooks.
This recipe is based on one of Swasthi's recipes and I think it’s a great way to cook courgettes. The coconut milk makes it rich and substantial and all it needs is some rice to go with it, but of course a pan of dal would turn it into a generous meal. Alternatively, you can serve it with quinoa, whose protein will turn this into a fully-nutritious meal. I confess to finding quinoa worthy, but dull, particularly compared to brown basmati rice. However, if you're concerned about your protein intake, it's a good choice.
Even though this is made with Kashmiri chilli powder, rather than chilli flakes or cayenne, it packs quite a zing. If you don’t like too much heat in your curry, reduce the amount of chilli powder.
Serves 2 for a main course, 4 as a side dish
Ingredients
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/8 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 green chilli pepper, minced
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp salted lime or lemon, finely diced
1 medium onion, finely diced
3/4 tsp garam masala
3/4 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 large courgette or equivalent, chopped into chunky pieces
2 tomatoes, finely diced
1/4 cup freeze-dried peas*
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
Method:
Heat the oil in a saucepan and when it’s hot, add the mustard and cumin seeds
When the mustard starts to sputter, add the green chilli and cook for 30 seconds.
Add the chopped onions and ginger and cook for several minutes until the onions start to turn gold. If you are using salted lime, (or lemon) add this now.
Lower the heat and add the garam masala, chilli powder, salt and turmeric.
Now add the tomato and courgette and fry for a few minutes, stirring from time to time.
Add the peas and the coconut milk and bring to the boil. Mix well and turn the heat low.
Cook the courgette until its soft enough to suit your taste.
Just before the curry is ready, add the fenugreek leaves and mix them in.
Taste and add more salt or garam masala if required.
Serve with rice, quinoa or flatbread.
Notes:
Ideally, don't substitute coriander for the dried fenugreek leaves.
*Freeze-dried ‟Surprise” peas are very useful to have on a boat. Substitute with fresh or frozen if you have such a thing. Or perhaps 1/2 cup cooked dried, green peas, which would make this recipe much more substantial. Or maybe some diced carrot.
If you don’t have a green chilli leave it out (try to buy pickled ones, if you think you'll be making a lot of curry).
Substitute 1/4 tsp cayenne or chilli flakes for the Kashmiri chilli powder.
Substitute 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds if you don’t have the leaves; add them with the other spices.
Use less coconut milk, or leave it out for a drier curry.
Add cooked chick peas or other beans to turn this into a main course meal, if you feel it doesn't look very filling.
Edit I made this the other night and found it rather bland, so
decided to alter the recipe. However, I then thought that this is
actually a very good introductory curry for people who don't like their
food too 'hot' or are a bit cautious about the whole concept of curry.
Therefore, I've decided to insert the additional ingredients in italics, so that you can decide whether or not to add them yourself. The only really 'hot' addition would be chilli powder.
Chana dal are split brown chickpeas and
look very similar to yellow split peas. I've seen various ways of
cooking this curry, some of which appear to have the chana dal served
very firm. This one cooks them to a tender state; because it uses a
pressure cooker, it also requires less time and fuel. This is a good
curry for someone who wants to start out with ‛authentic’
curries, because there aren’t many spices and the only one that you're unlikely already to have in your lockers is asafoetida; on the other hand, you're not likely to find the recipe in most Western food blogs.
Courgettes/zucchini can sometimes
present a problem for voyagers. In places where they’re grown, you
are likely to be offered them frequently. When they're very fresh,
they'll keep for days or even a fortnight without refrigeration, which
is just as well, because a generous gift of courgettes will take up a
lot of room in any fridge. I have on occasion, been swamped with them
and I like this recipe, because you can use up your surplus of
courgettes without requiring other vegetables for the recipe. If you are really swamped with them, you can make a courgette curry, without the dal and just use as many courgettes as you think will suffice for a full, main course! Chana
dal goes very well with the courgette: the different textures
complement one another. If you're trying to use up your
courgettes, you can add more than is recommended in the recipe, but
remember that they produce a lot of moisture, so use the minimum with
your dal when you cook it (ie 2:1 water to dal by volume). The end
result is an attractively colourful dal, with the green courgette and
the red tomatoes a pretty contrast to the yellow dal. However, if you
don’t want to use fresh tomatoes, or part of a tin, you can add purée to get the
flavour.
Serves 2
Ingredients
1/2 cup chana dal
1 cup water
1/8 tsp ground turmeric
1 medium courgette, cut
into half moons
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder or 1/8 tsp cayenne
1 tbsp oil/ghee/coconut oil
1/4 tsp cumin
seeds
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
pinch asafoetida (omit
if GF)
1/2 tsp garlic paste
1/2 tsp ginger paste
1
green chilli, minced
1 small onion, finely
chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped (or I whole canned)
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp dried fenugreek
leaves
Method:
Put the chanadal in
the pressure cooker, together with the water and
turmeric, bring up to pressure and cook for 7 minutes. Reduce
pressure naturally.
Once you can take the lid off, add
the courgette and salt. If the dal is very dry, add a
couple of tablespoons of water.
Cover the cooker and put it over a low flame and gently simmer the dal and courgette
until the latter starts to soften, at which stage you can remove the lid, because by then the courgettes will have exuded their juices. Now add the chilli powder. Keep an eye on it so that it
doesn’t overcook – you still want a bit of texture in it. Add
more water, if you think it needs it, but usually the courgettes let
out a lot of moisture. (If you want the courgette to be a bit softer, just replace the lid and bring the cooker back up to pressure. Immediately remove it from the heat and let it lose pressure naturally.)
Make the tempering. Put a small frying pan over a medium heat and
add a glug of oil
or a scoop of ghee or coconut oil.
When the oil is hot, add the cumin and mustard
seeds and let them sizzle for a few seconds. (If you’re not sure
the oil is sufficiently hot, just put a few in the pan first.)
Now add the asafoetida and
the onion - don’t let the
asafoetida burn.
Cook for about a minute and then
add the ginger, garlic and greenchilli.
Cook until the onion becomes translucent.
Now add the chopped tomato andcoriander
and cook for a further couple of minutes.
By
now the courgette should have softened. Check the texture, taste to
see there is sufficient salt and then pour in the tempering. Add the driedfenugreek leaves.
Carefully, mix everything, ensuring you neither mash the chana nor break up the courgette, and simmer for a further 5
minutes.
Traditionally, this curry is served
with roti or naan, but you can serve it with rice if you’d
rather.
Notes:
If you don't have chana dal, then yellowsplitpeas will work
fine. They may cook a little more quickly, so it’s probably worth
letting the pressure off after 5 minutes and checking them.
Use 1
clove garlic, finelychopped instead of the paste
Use 1/2
tsp ginger, grated instead of paste.
Use a few
cherry tomatoes, halved, instead of the chopped tomato, or, as suggested in the intro, 1 tbsp tomato purée.