I’m a great fan of curry dishes of all kinds, for two reasons. First of all, their spiciness is so perfectly warming – ideal for someone like me, who believes that every weather below 30°C is basically ice age (no, I don’t live in Sahara Desert, I live in a climate where 30°C is a rather rare occurrence). Secondly, vegetable curry stews are extremely practical – there’s not much preparation needed, some of the ingredients come in cans… you just throw everything in the pot, let it cook for a quarter or two – and that’s it, dinner for 2 days done and dusted.

I typically make some kind of curry stew every other week. I make sure to always have a few cans of tomatoes and chickpeas in the cupboard (I use a lot of both, and they’re staple ingredients for so many emergency last-minute dishes). The rest pretty much all comes down to ‘let’s see what’s sitting in the fridge today’. Bell peppers, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potatoes… the possibilities are endless, most vegetables can be used here.

By the way, I always wonder: is it okay to call these curry-spiced vegetable stews “curries”? I hope it’s not disrespectful towards authentic Asian cuisine. For dishes like Korma, Vindaloo or Tikka Masala I try to stick to “authentic” ingredient lists. I’m just not sure whether calling my “throw whatever you have in the pot and season it with curry” type of dishes deserve to be called curries. Any thoughts on that subject?

Anyway. Here’s what I did this time.

For 3 servings you’ll need:

• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 handfuls of fresh coriander
• 1 can of chickpeas (400g)
• 1 can of tomatoes (400g)
• 1 teaspoon of tomato paste
• 1 onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2-inch piece of fresh ginger
• 2-inch piece of fresh turmeric
• 1 hot chilli pepper
• coconut oil for frying
• spices: 2 teaspoons of garam masala, 1 teaspoon of turmeric, 1 teaspoon of curry, 1 teaspoon of ground coriander seeds, 1 teaspoon of dried coriander leaves, 1 teaspoon of cumin, salt and pepper to taste

Finely chop the onion, garlic cloves, ginger, turmeric and chilli. Fry in coconut oil for a few minutes, until the onion has turned golden.

Add tomatoes, tomato paste and chickpeas (drained).

Add chopped up peppers (1/2-inch pieces) and spices.

Cook for as long as needed to soften the peppers.

Add chopped up fresh coriander and cook for an extra minute or two.

Serve with quinoa or rice, garnish with fresh coriander. Enjoy! 🙂

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• Savoury