Thanks to the good people at Green Earth Organics there were plenty of cabbages and potatoes in the Irish Veg box I just had delivered. I love cabbage and potatoes but they can both be quite bland. This simple curry spices things up a tad – not too much so that my delicate children will not turn their noses up but enough to give it a bit of zip and pep.
This is easy to make and adapt with whatever you have on hand as these are not the days to be popping out to the shops. I have substitute ingredients in brackets.
Do make the chapatis too – if you have a spare child put them to work and get them to make while the curry is simmering.
Ingredients – serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a side dish
1 tbsp rapeseed oil (or any neutral cooking oil)
½ tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp cumin seeds (powdered cumin will do)
¼ tsp ground turmeric (curry powder would work too)
1 small onion, finely chopped (onion or garlic powder can be substituted)
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
½ tsp coriander seeds (or ground coriander)
300g cabbage (about ½ a cabbage), core removed and finely sliced (You could use cauliflower florets instead)
250g potatoes (peeled and cut into 1cm cubes)
4 tbsp water
150g frozen peas
A good squeeze of lime or lemon juice
Fresh coriander leaves (I did not have but used fried curry leaves instead) to garnish
Salt and pepper
Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the mustard seeds, and cumin until they start to crackle. Sizzle for about 30 seconds. Then add the onion, garlic, chilli, turmeric and coriander seeds. Stir well and cook for a minute or so, then add the cabbage, potatoes and water, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and cover with a lid. Cook for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are soft.
Now is the time to make your chapatis (recipe below).
Add the peas to the pan, mix well. Cook for two minutes. You might need to add some more water or you might need to turn up the heat to bubble away any excess water. Squeeze the lemon or lime and season again to taste.
Serve immediately with some plain yoghurt and mango chutney and flatbreads.
Quick Chapati (unleavened flatbread)
Ingredients – makes 8 breads
275g chapati/ atta flour (okay okay I know you don’t have this so use 50:50 wholemeal/plain flour) plus extra for rolling
1/3 tsp sea salt
150ml water
½ tsp mild curry powder (optional)
2 tsp neutral cooking oil
In a large bowl mix the flour, salt and curry powder. Add enough of the water to form a dough and the oil. Bring together to form a rough ball then enlist a child to knead it for 5 minutes until it feels soft and springy. You could use a mixer with a dough hook – up to you but my view is that is more washing up.
Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape into neat balls. Flour a rolling pin and surface and roll out each ball into a 20cm disc.
Place a large frying pan over a medium heat. When hot, place the bread into the DRY pan. Cook for about a minute until little bubbles appear on the base. Flip and cook for about 30 seconds – repeat the flipping a few times. Wrap in a clean tea towel to keep warm while you cook the rest. Remove any burnt flour from the pan with paper towel.
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