National Curry Week!

This week is National Curry Week, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to share a curry recipe that I like to make as a speedy, reasonably cheap, mid-week dinner. I typically use fish or seafood, but these can easily be substituted for vegetables such as aubergine, butternut squash or sweet potato. It’s very quick to prepare and like many curry recipes contains lots of herbs, spices and vegetables. Curries are a great way of incorporating more vegetables, legumes and beans into your diet in an exciting way, next time you’re ordering a curry takeaway or eating out take a look at the side dishes which usually contain many vegetable/legume options, try ordering a few of these to supplement or even replace your usual main dish, this increases the variety, taste and nutritional content of your meal as well as providing a fun way of sharing a meal with your family or friends.

Here is my recipe for Mackerel Curry:

• Take a clove of garlic, small onion and chilli and mix to a paste with a drop of water using a blender or grater.
• Heat a tablespoon of sesame oil in a pan and cook the paste on a medium-high heat for around 5-10 minutes.

• Add a teaspoon of cumin, garam masala, mustard seeds and paprika to the pan with a ½ teaspoon of salt, combine well and cook for 1-2 minutes.
• Add 4 chopped tomatoes, a little water to loosen, a tablespoon of tamarind paste and cook for around 5-8 mins until the tomatoes soften.
• Add a tin of coconut milk, a couple of handfuls of chopped spinach and one handful of coriander and juice from half a lime, stir and leave to simmer for around 10 minutes (if using fresh prawns or cubed fresh fish/veg add these at this point and simmer covered with lid until cooked)

• Flake cooked mackerel into large bite size pieces and cover with the juice of half a lime, add to the pan and stir, warm through for around 5 minutes.
• Check for seasoning and adjust as necessary, serve the curry topped with chopped coriander and crushed cashew nuts, it can be eaten as it is or with rice and/or naan bread.