Vegetable Jalfrezi Curry
This is a medium spicy, Indian curry with a tomato based sauce. I don’t think this version is typical of what you would actually find in India, but is a very anglicized style of the kind you would find in British curry houses.
As with most of the dishes I post, the particular vegetables I use here can very easily be interchanged with all sorts of others, so do experiment with different combinations, such as zucchini, eggplant, butternut squash, cauliflower or sweet potato once you’ve had a go at this version. Bigger, chunkier veggies need longer cooking times, so add them at the start, and delicate veggies like peas and spinach need only minutes, so they can go in right at the end.
If you want to make this quicker and easier, you can buy the jalfrezi sauce/paste ready made in most supermarkets and Patak’s is a good brand that I would recommend.
Ingredients for curry
1 bunch turnips, roughly chopped
2 large or 3 medium carrots, roughly chopped
1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 bunch mustard greens or kale, stems removed and roughly chopped
2 large tomatoes, cut into half inch chunks
1 large or 2 medium bell peppers (red preferred), chopped into roughly inch pieces
2 x 15 oz cans of chopped or plum tomatoes
1 bunch cilantro, leaves picked and stems finely chopped.
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 inch piece of fresh root ginger, thinly sliced
1 green chili (seeds removed if you don’t want it too spicy), finely sliced
1 x 15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp of peanut oil or other vegetable oil (but not olive)
1 tbsp of unsalted butter (or vegan alternative)
home made curry paste or 5 oz of store bought jalfrezi curry paste
1 tsp salt
Ingredients for curry paste
2 cloves garlic
2 inch piece of fresh root ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons peanut or other vegetable oil
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 fresh green chili
½ a bunch fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons cumin seeds , for toasting
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds, for toasting
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds, for toasting
1 teaspoon coriander seeds , for toasting
1/2 tsp salt
Method
First, start by making the paste. Put the whole seeds of cumin, brown mustard, coriander and fenugreek into a dry frying pan on a medium heat and roll them around until the smell becomes really aromatic and they begin to brown a little. If you hear the mustard seeds start to pop then they’re done.
set aside the pan to cool while you peal the garlic and ginger.
Grind the toasted seeds with a pestle and mortar or throw them into the blender/food processor before the other ingredients to wiz them into a fine powder. Once this is done, add all the other ingredients and blend to a smooth paste. You might find you need to add a couple of tablespoons of water to get it to blend fully, or scrape down the sides of the processor very frequently. Once finished, set the paste aside for now
To begin the curry, in a very large pan or casserole pot heat the oil and the butter on a medium heat and add the chopped onion, minced garlic, finely sliced ginger, chili and cilantro stalks and cook until the onion starts to develop a golden color or about 10 minutes.
Now add the chopped turnips, carrots, bell peppers and chickpeas with the curry paste (either home made or store bought) and stir well to coat all the vegetables thoroughly with the paste.
Add the fresh and tinned tomatoes, and if you used plum tomatoes break them up with the back of a spoon. Add the salt, the vinegar and one tin's worth of water, and stir again.
Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 30 minutes with the lid on.
At this point, stir in the kale or mustard greens and cook for another 15 minutes without the lid. Then check the chunky vegetables like the carrots or turnips with a fork to see if they are cooked and give it another 10 minutes if necessary.
Season to taste with sea salt, black pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice and garnish with the picked cilantro leaves.
This is delicious served with poppadoms or fluffy rice and with a few dollops of natural yogurt, a sprinkle of coriander leaves and a few lemon wedges for squeezing over.