Serves 6 average humans. This easy, tasty, and healthy dish is good for everyone including vegetarians, coeliacs, and vegans. Next time I make it I’ll take a photo and put it here:
Ingredients
Spinach – a packet of frozen spinach (250-400gm), thawed, or use fresh stuff
Cooking oil: 2 tablespoons
Minced ginger: 1-2 teaspoons (fresh or processed)
Minced garlic: 1-2 teaspoons (fresh or processed)
Onion: 1 medium-large, chopped
Curry powder: 2-3 teaspoons (mild or hot)
Garam masala: 2 teaspoons
Cumin seeds: 1 teaspoon
Bay leaves: 2-3
Tomatoes: 2-3 400gm cans crushed/chopped tomatoes in juice
Potatoes: 4-6 medium-sized
Kidney beans: 420gm can, rinsed and drained
Water: ¼ – ½ cup, if required
Salt: ½ – 1 teaspoon
Pepper: black, ground
Coriander: 2 tablespoons chopped fresh
Depending on how many people you’re feeding, add more or less potatoes, tomatoes, and kidney beans.
Instructions
1) If using frozen spinach, thaw in microwave (6-8 minutes at 50% power) – keep the liquid.
2) Clean the potatoes & cut any yukky bits off them, no need to peel. Cut them in half, jab with a fork a few times, arrange on a dinner plate leaving a space in the centre, cover with a paper-towel, and cook in the microwave until soft (~3 x 3 minutes on 100% power). Then cut into small pieces roughly 15-20mm in size.
3) While the potatoes are cooking, heat the oil in a large pot on a medium heat.
4) Add the ginger and garlic, and the chopped onion. Stir-fry until the onion has softened and is turning clear.
5) Open the cans of tomatoes and kidney beans. Put the beans in a sieve and rinse under cold water.
6) In the pot on top of the clear onion mix, add the curry powder, garam masala, cumin seeds and bay leaves. Cook for 1 minute – keep stirring this entire minute.
7) Add the tomatoes and their juice.
8) Add the spinach with its liquid
9) Add the rinsed kidney beans
10) Add the pieces of potato
11) Stir it all in.
12) Turn down the heat and simmer the mixture gently for about half an hour, adding a bit of water if the mixture begins to look too dry. Stir occasionally. If the element is too hot the mixture will stick/burn to the bottom of the pot. My element control has 11 positions, I have left the pot on 0.5 (nearly off) for 2 hours and the curry has been perfectly slow cooked.
13) Prepare and cook enough rice for the number of people you’re feeding, time this so the rice is ready when the curry is cooked.
14) Season the curry to taste with salt and pepper.
15) Put into a serving bowl and top with the chopped coriander leaf.
16) Serve on the rice.
17) If you’re cooking to impress, serve with poppadums or naan bread. A bit of plain yogurt can be a nice touch.
Leftovers?
This is really good the next day, and I often freeze individual meal servings: in a freezer-to-microwave container, put a single serve amount of curry in first, then put rice on the top, so in reverse order. Freeze. To heat: 6 minutes on 50% heat, 3 minutes on 100% heat. Place dinner plate upside-down on top of container, quickly flip the plate and container over, and the contents cover the plate: rice on the bottom, curry on the top – ready to eat!
[Adapted from Alison Holst’s Chickpea & Spinach Curry.]
