Friday, May 1, 2009

Tamarind + Peanut curry

I find there is nothing quite like calculating my tax liability to make me go around turning lights off and the thermostat down...............and cooking a cheap b*stard meal. So that calls for veggies, pulses and spices. On Meena's Gujarathi cooking day she showed us a Tamarind and Peanut curry, stupidly I never wrote down the recipe so it's taken me a couple of goes to get somethig even vaguely approaching her version. Try this:

2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 large dried chillies
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp ginger, cut into thin strips
1 tbsp tamarind puree
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
3 handfuls peanuts
1 handful cauliflower, cut into small florets

Heat the sunflower oil in a large pan then add the dried chillies and mustard/cumin seeds, fry until the seeds pop and start trying to escape from the pan. Now add the ginger and tamarind puree. Stir for 1 minute then add a long pour of water, salt, sugar, peanuts and cauliflower. Lid on and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes. Taste, as you may need to add more salt or sugar. It seems like a lot of sugar but the tamarind is so sour, it needs it.