Vegetable Curry

A good, adaptible meal.

Serves 8, takes about 1.5-2 hours

Ingredients

2 courgettes, chopped

1 parnip, chopped

1 sweet potato, chopped

2 medium onions, chopped very fine with a food processor

8 small mushrooms, chopped very fine with a food processor

Spices: lots of coriander. Cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves, a little black pepper. All ground with a spice/coffee grinder. NO CHILLI - this is a mild curry.

Sunflower oil: some

Red 'cooking wine': you can get it cheap in Sainsbury's. It's a strange de-alcholised thing, found amongst the cooking ingredients rather than on the wine shelf. "A good slug"

Balsamic vinegar: just a shake or two

Mango chuntney: a few teaspoons.

Mushroom ketchup: a shake or two.

V. Low Fat Greek Yoghurt: One smallish (next size up from a normal yoghurt pot) pot

Chopped tomatos: two tins.

Garam Masala: a shake.

Instructions

Parboil the courgettes, parsnip and sweet potato. Meanwhile, heat the oil and the spices (not the garam masala, that comes later). Add the onions and cook for a bit, then the mushrooms, and after a little while add the wine, vinegar, mushroom ketchup and chutney. You should have a nice brown oily paste by now. Drain the veg and add it to the paste. Stir. Add in the yoghurt and tomatos, cook for about an hour, stirring from time to time. Stir in the garam masala a few minutes before serving.

Notes

This goes well with rice. Red wine is also good - if you can find it, Vina Albali (a Tempranillo from Valdepenas) is pretty good.

You can control how hot the curry is with three key spices. Black peppercorns (ground) add immediate "bite" to the curry, and mustard seeds put heat in after that. Finally, chillies add long-term, slow-acting heat. However, you don't need to add any heat at all. Mild curries can still be tasty and aromatic, and you can serve them to a wider range of people.