2017 Curry Recipes: 1 - Butter Cauliflower and Chickpeas

I've finally got 10 mins to write down the first of my current trio of great curry recipes, so here it is!

Ingredients:

Serves 4 as a side dish or 2 as a main.

• 1 large cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets
• 1 tin of chickpeas (drained)
• 1 medium onion, sliced finely
• 100-150g salted butter (for a vegan version, use 100g coconut oil)
• 1 small can coconut cream (160-200ml)
• 2 tbsp Garam Masala
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 4 large cloves of garlic, crushed
• 150-200ml double cream (for a vegan version, double the amount of coconut cream and omit this)
• 1x red chilli, sliced finely.
• 1 pinch smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp ground almonds
• 2 tbsp toasted, desiccated coconut
• salt to taste
• toasted flaked almonds and coconut chips or shavings to serve

Method:

1. Toast the desiccated coconut and set aside.
2. Toast the almond flakes and coconut chips/shavings and set aside.
3. Sweat the sliced onion in a pan with half of the butter until the onion is translucent and sticky.
4. Add the cauliflower chunks and the rest of the butter, tossing the cauliflower until it is coated with the hot butter.
5. Sprinkle the turmeric and paprika into the pan and toss the cauliflower until it is fully coated. add more butter if the cauliflower doesn't get fully coated with the golden liquid and you can see white patches still.
6. Cook the cauliflower for a little while until it starts to soften.
7. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two, then add the coconut cream.
8. Cook the mixture and as it thickens, add the double cream, desiccated coconut and ground almond.
9. Cook until the cauliflower softens nicely, add a little water if the sauce gets too thick - it should end up thick enough to stick to a spoon and not drip off.
10. For the final couple of minutes of cooking, add the sliced chilli, then drained chick peas, then Garam Masala (don't cook that too long or it will taste bitter).
11. Season with salt to taste (don't add it too early or the chick peas will harden and be crunchy).
12. When ready to serve, spoon onto serving dish and garnish with the toasted almond flakes and coconut chips/shavings.

Best curry I've ever made (recipe)

Hot damn, this is a good one!  A richly flavoured and spiced lamb curry...

First make your curry paste:-

Ingredients (for 5 portions of curry paste)

Garlic, Raw, Average	-	27g (approx 5-6 cloves)
Peppers, Chilli, Mixed, Raw	-	40g (2-3 good sized ones)
Oil, Olive	-	15ml (1tbsp)
Ginger, Root, Raw, Unprepared	-	15g (a reasonable chunk, unpeeled)
Tomato Puree, Double Concentrate	-	70g (approx 3 level tbsp)
Coriander, Seeds, Whole	-	2 Tsps/3.5g
Cumin, Seeds, Whole	-	2 Tsps/4g
Paprika, Smoked, Average	-	2 Tsps/4g
Seeds, Fenugreek, Average	-	2 Tsps/7.5g

Gently toast all of the seeds in a non-stick pan until you can smell the aroma breaking free.  Crush in a spice grinder or with pestle and mortar with a good pinch of sea salt until you have a fine powder.

Add the powder to a container suitable for your hand blender (or whatever you use to purée stuff) along with the tomato purée, paprika, olive oil, roughly chopped chillies, peeled garlic cloves and unpeeled ginger.  Blend everything to a fine paste and set aside.  Ideally refrigerate overnight to allow the flavours to come out.

Then prepare the curry itself:-

Ingredients (for 5 portions of curry)

Onions, Raw, Average	-	300g (1 really big onion or 2 smaller ones)
Peppers, Chilli, Mixed, Raw	-	15g (any colour you like)
Tomatoes, Plum, Tinned	-	1 Tin/400g (tinned cherry tomatoes are even better)
Courgette, Raw	-	600g (two large courgettes)
Lamb, Neck Fillet, Lean, Raw	-	600g
Coconut Oil	-	15g
Garlic, Raw	-	30g (6-7 cloves)
Tomatoes, Fresh, Raw	-	370g (whatever sort you have)
Stock, Lamb, Cubes	-	2 Cubes (lamb, chicken or veg stock is fine)
Vinegar, Balsamic	-	2 Tbsps/30ml (the thickest balsamic vinegar you can find)

Slice the onion, garlic and chillies.  Cube the courgette and lamb.  Melt the coconut oil, or heat the same amount of a flavourless oil, in a large frying pan or wok (whichever you have a lid for).  Then add the onion slices and fry gently until the onion has softened.  Add the the lamb pieces and cook until sealed on the outsides.

Add the chillies and garlic and warm through a bit more before adding the curry paste.  Gently stir it all until the paste has softened and coated the lamb pieces.  Add the balsamic vinegar and stir.  Cook for 5 minutes until the lamb cubes are totally coated with everything and browned on the outside.

Add the remaining raw vegetables and cook for another 5 minutes before adding the tinned tomatoes and stock.  Bring to a bubble and then simmer, with a lid on, for at least 40 minutes.

Check the consistency of the sauce. If it is too dry, add a little water (use it to rinse out the tomato tin).  Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.  Remove the lid and simmer for another 5-10 minutes until the sauce is the desired consistency.  Serve with either plain rice, warm peshwari naan, toasted pitta bread or on a bed of cauliflower like this...

Notice the Becks Blue in the background - tastiest fake beer out there!

Chills and freezes very well indeed and tastes even better when re-heated.  So if you can stand it, make a batch and chill at least a day before you want to eat it.

Lamb Madras

It was Christmas Eve, I had some lamb neck fillet and a hankering for curry...

(serves 4 - chills and freezes well)

Slice onions (2x medium), chop tomatoes (3x large) into small cubes.  Blend tamarind with warm water (4 tbsp water or so to 1tbsp tamarind).

Toast coriander seeds (1.5tsp), cumin seeds (1.5tsp), peel garlic (1/2 bulb), cut tops off chillies (2-3 large reds), peel ginger (2-3cm cube), measure curry leaves (4 fresh or 1/2 tsp dried) and salt (1/2 tsp) and add all of that into a blender with measure oil (10ml) then blend into a paste.

Toast fennel seeds (1tsp) and keep to one side.

Cube the lamb (500-600g) and toss in turmeric (1.5tsp).

Add oil (another 10ml) into a large non-stick pan.  Add sliced onions and heat until softened.

Add the curry paste and cook for a minute.

Add cubed lamb and brown.

Pour in 2/3 tin coconut milk.

Bring to a bubble and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, cracked cardamom pods (x4), toasted fennel seeds, the rest of the tin of coconut milk and a cracked cinnamon stick.

Bring to a boil, partially cover and simmer for 1.5 hours until the lamb is tender.  Add a little water if it dries out too much.

Add Garam Masala (1.5tsp) and the tamarind paste and cook for another 5 minutes until the sauce thickens.

Remove the cardamom pods and cinnamon stick before serving with brown rice or naan.

Curry for one (or two) - it's quick!

Curry from scratch does not need to take ages.  It tastes fabulous, you don't need jars of paste or sauce and you know exactly what you've put in it...

First, make sure you have cooked base protein.  In this case some Abel and Cole cubed buffalo, onion, tomato and courgette:-

Mr TOTKat cooked this in a batch a while ago.  Sweat a chopped onion, add 500g cubed buffalo (or beef or lamb), once browned, add the chopped tomato (a couple of large ones) and (a couple of medium) courgette and cook the meat through.  Divide up into (4) portions and chill/freeze.

You could use pretty much any meat or poultry, fish won't work so well but you could try some chunky white fish.  Big, meaty Portobello mushrooms, chick peas, butter beans or tofu can be used in place of the meat.  As it's not a creamy curry, nuts would probably not be very nice.  Veg could be lots of different things; courgettes, peppers, onion, cauliflower, tomatoes, aubergine, squashes, sweet potato, carrot... probably not cabbage or any softish leafy vegetables though pak choi or chard may work, it's worth a try. I can't imagine swede or parsnip would work so well though.

Then you need to make your paste (this makes enough for 2 people and you can keep it in the fridge for a day or three in a sealed container.

• 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 3 tbsp tomato puree
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 red chilli
• a chunk of ginger to taste
• 2 tsps light oil

Roughly chop the onion.

Toast the seeds in a dry frying pan, then crush in a pestle and mortar with some salt crystals until you have a fineish powder.

Roughly chop the chilli and put all the paste ingredients into a container and blend into a paste with a hand blender.

Heat the paste in a non-stick pan.

I decided to add some extra tomato; chopped up a couple and blended them to a smoothish paste.  Then added that to the curry paste.  Cook for a little while and add slugs of water if it starts to get too thick or stick.

Add the pre-cooked meat and veg, add a little water if needed and make sure the whole thing is heated thorougly.

Serve and eat with rice, toasted pitta, curried potato or just by itself.  (By itself, 455kcals, 62g protein, 28.5g carbs, 11.5g fat, 7g fibre and 6.2 portions of fruit and veg - 600kcals with a toasted wholemeal pitta bread).

Start to finish, that took about 35 minutes including 10 minutes preparation time.

*whimper*

I've been... Busy.

Lots of stuff happened related to being at work lots of hours a day for several weeks and some stuff I might talk long after it loses the power to make things interesting.  I managed to fit in a couple or three gyms in per week, but dropped off the cycling.  I've eaten for England, but not got heavier so I'm just waiting for it to hit me.  I've totally failed to see my trainer at all so have been evolving and mixing and matching new stuff into my gym routine to stop it stagnating toooo much.

Christmas has been pretty good.  Just the two of us.  My first ever Christmas meal I've cooked at home for us and the turkey just keeps giving.  My main present was a pair of stunning Global knives, a sharpening tool and a magnetic knife holder.  And this evening I christened the knives making turkey curry, chopping and slicing garlic, onions, carrots, peppers, chillies, roast turkey...  Literally christened one of the knives whilst chopping the chilli peppers and sliced through my thumb nail nearish the top, into the top of my thumb at an angle and embedded a chilli seed into the cut before I'd even noticed the knife had cut.  Those knives are -sharp- and incredible.  And chilli seeds in cuts really rather smart, I can tell you.  And the very best thing you can do with a cut like that is press on it really hard until the bleeding stops, rather than picking about in the slice with a sterilised needle to get a chilli seed out.

We went to the gym earlier and I hauled out an old routine as my latest one is well over 2 months old and really too stale to be any good now.  So I looked back to a routine several iterations back and cranked up the weights somewhat:-

• Squat and swing with 24kg (like a kettlebell swing) - 3x10
• core pendulum swings (lying on the floor, legs up, swing legs/rotate hips) - 3x10 each side SUPERSET A
• Lunge with single arm swing opposite arm to knee (same side arm and leg working) 8kg dumbbell - 3x10 each side SUPERSET A
• clean and press 30kg barbell- 3x10
• reverse lunge with row (cable machine) 15kg - 3x10 SUPERSET B
• side plank with row (8kg) hold plank throughout - 3x10 SUPERSET B
• leg raise with press - 20kg ViPR - 3x15 SUPERSET C
• Pressups on ViPR - 3x5 SUPERSET C

But.  I really need a new routine.  Hopefully I'll be able to get the trainer at the local gym that I'd prefer.  Committing to a set time during the week just doesn't work for me any more.  So training sessions really need to be at the weekend and that means going to the gym near home.  Which, thankfully, is cheaper too.

Mmmphaaal

I made a phaal tonight, for tomorrow night and for freezing down.  It's pretty warm but not deathly so...

Lamb Phaal

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 bulb Garlic, broken into cloves and peeled
• (at least) 5 Chilli Peppers (or more, depending on how hot you want this to be)
• 3 Tsps Cumin Seeds
• 3 Tsps Coriander Seeds
• 1 Tsp Peppercorns, Black
• 2 Tsps Turmeric Powder
• 25g Root Ginger
• 40ml Grapeseed or Sunflower Oil
• 1 Tsp Mustard Seeds
• 1 Tsp Fenugreek Seeds
• 4 Tbsps Tomato Puree, Double Concentrate
• 1 huge Onion (350-450g), peeled and finely chopped
• 1 Tin/400g Plum Tomatoes in juice
• 30g Tamarind
• 550-600g Lamb Neck Fillets, cubed

Method

First make the paste -

1. Toast 2tsp coriander seeds, 2tsp cumin seeds, 1tsp peppercorns and 1tsp mustard seeds in a pan.

2. Turn out into a mortar, add 1tsp sea or rock salt crystals and grind up until you have a powder.

3. Add that into a suitable vessel for hand blending or into a blender.

4. Add 2/3rds of the garlic cloves, 1 roughly chopped chilli, 1/2 the lump of ginger, all of the tamarind (either as-is or a paste) and half of the oil.

5. Blend into a thick paste and set aside.

Now for the curry -

1. Chop half of the remaining chillies and slit the others down the middle.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion, stir over a medium heat until golden.

3. Add the lamb and cook for 2 minutes.

4. Sprinkle the turmeric over the lamb.  Add the paste, the rest of the cumin, coriander and fenugreek seeds, finely sliced ginger and garlic and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes. Sprinkle in some water if the mixture begins to stick.

5. Stir in the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree and the chillies and bring to a gentle simmer; Cook for a further 15 minutes or until the lamb is cooked through.

6. Check the seasoning and serve with plain rice, naan or a cool daal.  Remove the whole chillies before serving if desired and add a dollop of Greek yoghurt if it is a touch on the warm side.

It does get better with sitting in a fridge overnight, or freezer for a few days.  So if possible, make it a day or two before you want to serve it.

Nutrition Data Per Serving
Calories (kcal)	450.1
Carbohydrate (g)	25.6
Protein (g)	31.5
Fat (g)	25.3
Fibre (g)	4.4
Alcohol (g)	0.0
Fruit & Veg	2.8

Good curry

Anjum Anand's Tarka Dal... I took the recipe and instead of using ground coriander, I toasted the seeds and ground them myself - much fresher, zingier flavour, I find.  I took out the leaf coriander because I can't stand the stuff.  Then, to serve for dinner, I mixed in some chunks of roasted chicken breast that I'd heated up.

I think next time (i.e. tomorrow or Wednesday when I have more of this stuff, reheated :o)) I'll also add in some toasted almonds and desiccated coconut for extra flavour and texture.  It's blimmin nice without, but I think it'd also be great with!

So here it is (serves 4):-

Ingredients

• 250g Red Lentils, Dried
• 45ml Grapeseed or Sunflower Oil
• 1 Tbsp Cumin, Seeds
• 2 Tsps Coriander, Seeds, toasted and ground
• 4 large cloves Garlic
• 1 Tsp Garam Masala
• 250-300g Tomatoes (not plum, as they're too sweet)
• 1 Tsp Turmeric Powder
• 6g Root Ginger, finely sliced
• 1 smallish Onions, finely chopped
• 2-3 medium Chilli Peppers, pricked
• 1litre Water

Method

1.  Place the lentils and 900ml of the water into a pan, stir well and bring to the boil. Skim off any froth that forms on the surface of the water with a spoon. Cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer, stirring regularly, for 30-35 minutes, or until the lentils are just tender, adding more water as necessary.

2. When the lentils have cooked through, remove the pan from the heat and use a whisk to break down the lentils. Set the mixture aside to thicken and cool.

3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and fry for 20-30 seconds, or until fragrant.

4. Add the onion, chillies and ginger and fry for 4-5 minutes, or until golden-brown.

5. Blend the garlic and tomatoes to a purée in a food processor. Add the purée to the pan and stir well to combine.

6. Add the ground spices and 100ml water to the pan and stir well to combine. Season, to taste, with salt and simmer over a medium heat for 15-20 minutes, or until the oil from the sauce has risen to the surface of the sauce.

7. Add the cooked lentils to the sauce and stir well, adding more water as necessary to loosen the mixture. Bring the mixture to the boil and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Calories (kcal)	349
Carbohydrate (g)	43.3
Protein (g)	16.8
Fat (g)	12.6
Fibre (g)	5.0
Alcohol (g)	0.0
Fruit & Veg	2.3

Back and currying it up

Not the best day on Thursday, had breakfast at 8am - 2 slices of toast and scrambled egg - and then nothing until very very late lunch at half past 3. Suffice to say, I was starving by then and the 3 small glasses of white wine sat badly enough before the 2 glasses of red and the 1 of champagne. I was as sick as a dog and fell asleep at 6pm until I was woken at 9pm. I just can't do that. Yes I drank quite a bit but it shouldn't have made me sick, not like that. Lack of food made a heck of a difference and I felt like shite. The barbecue lunch the next day made a huuuuge difference to the state of my well-being, despite me being a bit of a pig and having 1 pork steak in a bun, followed by 2 beef burgers in buns. With a little greenery and some ketchup. And then some wedding cake. The barbecue made me feel so much better.

However, I wasn't happy with any of the photos except this one.  Major double-chins and flabby arms going on, so really quite unimpressed with that.

Anyway. We're home now and gymmed this morning, which was nice. I showed off a bit with my press-ups on medicine balls. I really fancied curry tonight, so dinner is a tad experimental, but basically a chicken Phaal and aloo gobi. And, well, the Phaal is a teeeensy bit hot. I based it on a Patak's recipe, but obviously made the paste myself from scratch as it's much more fun that way (though it meant guessing a bit from the ingredients on their web site which don't tell you know much of everything is in the paste).


Chicken Phaal, Serves 2

Calories (kcal)	347
Carbohydrate (g)	25.1
Protein (g)	36.2
Fat (g)	11.7
Fibre (g)	4.7
Fruit & Veg	3.0

• 6 cloves of Garlic
• 3 Large Chillies
• 1½ Tsps Cumin Seeds
• 1½ Tsps Coriander Seeds
• ½ Tsp Black Peppercorns
• 1 Tsp Turmeric Powder
• 12g Root Ginger, peeled
• 20ml Grapeseed Oil (or other flavourless oil)
• ½ Tsp Mustard Seeds
• 2 Fillets/250g Chicken Breast Fillets
• ½ Tsp Fenugreek Seeds
• 2 Tbsps/30g Tomato Puree, Double Concentrate
• 1 medium Onions
• 1 Tin/400g Tomatoes, Plum, Tinned
• 1 chunk (15g) Tamarind

1. First make the Madras paste.  Toast 1tsp cumin, 1tsp coriander, 1/2 tsp black peppercorns in a dry pan.  Grind them up with pestle and mortar and add to a blender.  Also add 1/2 the oil, 1 of the chillies, 4 cloves of garlic, 1/2 the ginger, the tomato puree and the tamarind.  Blend.  (You can use a hand blender but it may struggle with the small amounts here).
2. Chop another of the chillies and slit the final one down the middle.  Finely chop the last 2 cloves of garlic, onion and remaining ginger.  Cube the chicken.
3. Heat the rest of the oil in a saucepan and add the onion, stir over a medium heat until golden. Add the chicken and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the Madras Paste remaining cumin and coriander seeds, the fenugreek, ginger and garlic and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle in some water if the mixture begins to stick.
4. Stir in the tinned tomatoes and the chillies and bring to a gentle simmer.
5. Cook for a further 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
6. Check the seasoning and serve garnished with a dollop of yogurt if you find the curry a bit hot. Also remove the whole chillies before serving if desired.

1151 kcal dinner :o)

Ohyes.  Curry.  1151kcal dinner :o)  Home made lamb korma (with a buttload of chilli in it) and curried vegetables (chick peas, spinach and mushrooms) with home made peshwari naan (with flaked almonds, raisins and dessicated coconut).  My belly is sooooo full!  The only improvement would have been had I used tomatoes in the vegetable curry.  The two curries were very differently flavoured but could have done with a bit of tanginess in one of them.  Just what I needed after a pretty good gym session today of my current routine with added cycle there and back, pressups (3x10) and negative motion pull-ups (3x5x4s).

Still under maintenance for the day and happy with how the week has gone.  I'll be cruising for 0.5-1.0lbs fat lost, but we'll see when I do the body-fat measurement tomorrow.

B - toasted wholegrain, seeded bagel with butter and Marmite
L - Discovery wholemeal tortilla filled with Philadelphia Extra Light, ham and lettuce
S - 1 scoop MP Max in semi-skimmed milk
S - strawberries and banana with Elmlea Single Light
D - lamb korma with curried vegetables and peshwari naan

If anyone wants recipes, just shout!  (though the naan needs refining as the filling was a bit dry)

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	2128 2292]
Protein (g)	132.8 (25.5%)
Carbohydrate (g)	193.2 (34.8%)
Fat (g)	91.5 (39.6%)
Fibre (g)	30.3
Fruit & Veg	6.8

Wobbly DOMS

By the time I got to today's gymming, I still had DOMS all through my core from Sunday's session.  This makes press-ups, rowing, pull-ups etc. a bit difficult and I got really quite wobbly a bit earlier in the press-ups than last time.

This morning, I decided to try a porridge experiment (mostly because there were no flaked almonds left and I like them with my yogurt a lot more than not having them in it) involving soaking the oats overnight in the fridge.  So, oats, water, raisins, honey and a spoon of mascarpone went into a bowl in the fridge overnight.  Vile, vomitous-looking mix came out in the morning, I must say, as the mascarpone just sat there in little chunks.  Still, I mixed it, microwaved it for 2 minutes, mixed it some more and microwaved for another minute and out came a beautiful, creamy, thick porridge; to which I added some chopped strawberries.  And it was nice, though the strawberries that didn't sink and get heated up didn't really go very well with the porridge - too acidic - the heated up ones went a bit mushy and much nicer.  So.  Score for the porridge.

I was gymming today so lots of snacks and gymmage went OK apart from the wobbliness; I'm going to up the dumbbells in the side planks with rows as the 6kgs are getting a bit easy now.  I'm still on 6kg with 3x8 each side on the lunges with cross-over arm raise things, my triceps really feel it especially on the left.  I'll try to hit 10 each set next time, but it'll be quite a struggle.  And another 8, 8, 10 with 25kg barbell on the clean and press which I'm still quite chuffed with, but I want to make it to 3x8 with 30kg by the end of next week when I'll see my trainer again.

When I got home today, apart from the mysterious half-eaten sausage on the lounge floor with one kitteh sat on his bed ignoring it and the other one AWOL (I would love to know where it came from and how, 'cause we don't have any sausages in the house, never mind cooked ones like the one I found), I found my chilli plant has finally got a ripening chilli on it - and it's pretty!  I was starting to worry that they weren't ripening, but it looks like the warmer temperatures now are setting it off; which is great.  Very pleased :o)

So pleased, that I heated up a frozen goat vindaloo for dinner with a couple of toasted wholemeal pitta breads to mop it up (I really couldn't be bothered to cook up any rice) and ohhhhh....

As with chilli con carne, bolognese sauce and curries in general, the goat curry had really improved with freezing and re-heating and it was really really nice.  There's one portion left and it miiiiight still be there when Mr TOTKat gets home for him to eat, but I might get the munchies before then ;o)

B - porridge with honey, mascarpone, raisins and strawberries
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
L - salad; lettuce, celery, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, beetroot and chicken breast
S - smoked almonds and a nectarine
S - cottage cheese with 2x seeded Ryvita Thins
D - goat vindaloo with 2x Waitrose wholemeal pitta breads

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1879 2224]
Protein (g)	139.4 (30.7%)
Carbohydrate (g)	233.1 (48.1%)
Fat (g)	42.9 (21.2%)
Fibre (g)	25.4
Fruit & Veg	12.3

I <3 curry

Adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe... lamb korma (serves 6 and packs some heat depending on your chillies)

• 1kg Lamb, Neck Fillets
• 225g Onion
• 30ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 3 Green Chilli Peppers
• 4 cloves Garlic
• Two thumb sized pieces of root ginger
• ½ Tsp Cayenne Pepper
• 1 Tsp Garam Masala
• 30g Desiccated Coconut
• 30g Ground Almonds
• 2 Tsps Cumin Seeds
• 1 Tsp Coriander Seeds
• 20g Flaked Almonds
• 1 Tbsp Tomato Puree
• 1 Can Light Coconut, Milk (Reduced Fat)
• 1 Can Chick Peas, Drained

Put 1/2 the coconut, the garlic, tomato puree, 1/2 the oil, two of the chillies, the ground almonds and one of the pieces of ginger into a container for blending.  Toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a dry pan gently until they smell right, grind with a pestle and mortar and add to the container.  Blend with a hand blender or food processor until you have a smooth paste.

Peel, halve and finely slice the onion.  Finely slice the remaining chilli pepper and finely chop the second piece of ginger.  Dice the lamb into 2" chunks.

Add the remaining oil to a large, non-stick pan and heat.  Brown the lamb chunks for 5 minutes. 

Move the lamb to one side and add the onion, chillies and ginger and cook for a few minutes until turning golden, then stir in with the meat.  Cook for 10 minutes.

 

Add the curry paste and work it through the meat and onions etc. until every thing is nicely coated with paste and smelling great.

Add the coconut milk, flaked almonds, the rest of the coconut and the drained chick peas to the pan, bring to a bubble then cover and simmer for 30 minutes. 

Check and stir periodically and add a little water each time you stir if it is drying out too much.







Serve on rice or with warmed naan or pitta bread.  Try not to eat all 6 portions between 2!

Per portion:-

Calories (kcal)	540
Carbohydrate (g)	17.5
Protein (g)	36.6
Fat (g)	36.1
Fibre (g)	3.7
Fruit & Veg	1.2