pea, prawn and potato curry

 

i’ve been feeling a bit uninspired recently and decided and that the best way to get myself out of the pasta rut i’ve settled into was to shake up my shopping. so, instead of getting my usual vegetable order or visiting borough market for a few treats i headed into china town. i picked things up randomly but focussed on ginger, galangal, lemongrass, chillies, herbs and a few chinese greens.

i was expecting to make something with asian flavours but somehow got diverted towards india instead with this gently spiced curry. the colouring is a bit lurid and i’d have liked my peas to stay green (next time i’ll cook them separately and add them at the end) but the taste was delicious. the coconut milk adds richness, the spicing is quite mild and the lime and coriander which is added at the end really lifts things. it reminded me a bit of the nigel slater chickpea and pumpkin curry, even though it lacks the lemongrass which makes nigel’s dish work so beautifully.

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daring cooks: chickpea dosas with coconut curry sauce

 

i’m loving being part of the daring cooks! so far we have made spanish rice with allioli, fish with powders, crab potstickers and ricotta gnocchi which is, i think, an impressive range of dishes and techniques to try out.

this month’s challenge, courtesy of debyi from the healthy vegan kitchen, is vegan indian dosas, using a recipe adapted from the refresh cookbook by ruth tal.

debyi provided us with recipes for the dosas (an indian pancake), a curried chickpea filling and a coconut curry sauce. having eaten dosas at a number of restaurants i was keen to try making my own.

so, how did i get on?

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tomato and paneer curry with spinach and peas

i often cook with halloumi but when it comes to its fellow squeaky cheese, paneer, i’ve been neglectful. until that is, i saw a delicious looking recipe for a tomatoey pea and paneer curry that i needed to try.

as i hadn’t cooked with paneer before i decided to use it in different ways. i followed the recipe for half the paneer, which was fried in a little oil, until golden, before adding to the curry. the rest of the paneer was added without any precooking.

david and i both preferred the paneer which had been fried. it had a little more flavour and i preferred the texture - the contrast of the slightly crisp outside and a squeakier inside. obviously it’s up you what you do but, if like me you’re a paneer virgin when you try this recipe, it might be worth trying both options to see which you prefer.

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beef and tomato rendang

 

one of my new year’s resolutions was to cook a broader range of international dishes. curries were top of my mind a few weeks ago when i was sorting through the mound of recipes that i have cut out of newspapers and magazines, downloaded or scribbled on scraps of paper.

i pulled out several to try but it was a couple of recipes for rendang that jumped out at me. rendang is a curry that originated in indonesia but is also popular in malaysia and singapore. the combination of coconut milk with tamarind paste, the sour fruit pulp that adds an interesting layer of flavour, was too appealing to resist.

i made this curry a few days before we ate it and i’d suggest you do the same as this really allows the flavours to meld. the flavour is rich with the different spices but lightened by the acidic tang that the tamarind adds.

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