Tomato curry and Coconut rice

 

INGREDIENTS

Serves: 4

FOR THE CURRY

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (or cold pressed rapeseed oil)
• 2 large onions (peeled and chopped)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes (or 1/2 teaspoon pouring salt)
• 4 cloves garlic (peeled and chopped)
• 1 kilogram cherry tomatoes (halved)
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1 teaspoon english mustard powder
• 1 teaspoon hot chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 200 grams frozen peas

FOR THE COCONUT RICE

• 1 tablespoon garlic infused olive oil
• 4 spring onions (finely sliced)
• 2 teaspoons nigella seeds (or black mustard seeds)
• 300 grams basmati rice
• 1 x 400 millilitres can coconut milk
• 600 millilitres freshly boiled water
• 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes (or 1/2 teaspoon pouring salt)
• juice of 1 lime (or to taste)

METHOD

FOR THE CURRY

1. Heat the oil in a wide casserole or pan that comes with a lid, and add the chopped onions, sprinkling with salt, and stirring frequently as you cook them over a low to medium heat for about 7 minutes.
2. Stir in the chopped garlic, then add the halved tomatoes, before stirring in the spices, and cook for 20 minutes with the lid on over a low heat.
3. Cook the peas in another pan (in boiling salted water as usual), drain and add to the tomato curry for the last 5 minutes’ cooking time. By all means cook the peas directly in the tomato curry, but be prepared then to sacrifice both the vivid red of the tomatoes and the bright green of the peas.

FOR THE COCONUT RICE

1. Warm the oil in a heavy-based pan that has a lid, add the spring onions and nigella seeds (or black mustard seeds) and cook for a minute or so, pushing this way and that with a wooden spoon.
2. Stir in the rice, letting it get slicked with oil and thoroughly mixed with the black-dotted green shreds.
3. Pour the coconut milk into a measuring jug and top up to the 1 litre mark with freshly boiled water, then add this to the rice, stirring it in with the salt.
4. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and put on the lid. Cook for 15 minutes, by which time the rice should be cooked and the liquid absorbed.
5. Fluff up with a fork as you pour in the lime juice, and taste to see if you need either more salt or more lime.