It’s been a long time since I cooked something worthy of shouting about. I’m not a professional cook, I used to make wedding cakes and cater parties, that sort of thing, but at the end of the day I am a forty something housewife trying to make the best of the first class produce grown and raised in UK.

This is a vegetarian curry, but my partner quickly zapped some cold chicken in the microwave to add to his, so feel free to either add meat during cooking or separately at the end. I forgot to add the spinach that I left sitting on the counter, but I’ve included it in the recipe.

Now, you’ll be asking how many people this will feed, well it did us 2 meals each, but we like our food so, maybe it would be enough for 6. The naan bread recipe makes 6 naans. Whilst we are talking about the naans, they may be frozen after cooking, but before being brushed with herb butter. I pop them into freezer bags in twos. I then defrost, or not, depending how organised I am. Heat them again in a dry pan then brush with the herb butter. The garlic I use for the curry and breads is the garlic paste, very readily available in all supermarkets. This is not a hot curry, it’s all about the taste. If you like it hot just add chillies to your taste, or substitute the mild curry powder, for medium or hot.

Now, I believe the success of this recipe is the long slow cooking of the onions…..I mean an hour or more. Yes, really, that long. If they start to dry add a little stock, but you want the onions to be as brown in colour as possible. Do this by starting them off on a high heat frying in a little tasteless oil, such as sunflower, rapeseed etc. then once they start to soften and colour turn the heat right down and continue cooking. You can cook the onions beforehand and then reheat them when you need them. Doing this means it is ready to serve in about an hour.

I always make my own stock from chicken bones, as we have one at least once a week. If we don’t use it I either freeze the bones or make the stock and freeze that. If you don’t make your own stock I would advise buying the pouches of fresh stock available in supermarkets. I haven’t given an amount of stock for this recipe, but I would advise having around 500mls ready to use.

This is one of those meals that you can change to suit any occasion.

So onto the recipe

• 2 large or 3 medium onions
• A little oil to fry them
• 2tsps garlic puree
• 2tsps turmeric
• 1tsp coriander
• 1tsp cumin
• 2tsps ginger
• 2tbsp mild curry powder
• 100g dried red lentils, washed and drained
• 4 small or one large sweet potato peeled and cut into large cubes
• 400g can of chopped tomatoes
• 500g of baby leaf spinach
• Greek yogurt to serve
• Fresh coriander to serve
• Salt & freshly ground pepper

Method

• Finely chop onions and fry in the oil until soft and dark brown in colour. Add a little stock if they start to dry.
• Mix the dry spices with a little of the stock and add to the onions. Cook for a few minutes, stirring to mix the flavours.
• If adding raw meat of fish, I would add it now and cook a little before adding the garlic and tomatoes
• Stir in the garlic paste and the can of tomatoes.
• Rinse and drain the red lentils and add to the pan, stir and add the sweet potato.
• Add the stock, stir well, bring to the boil and then simmer gently for about 30 mins
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• I usually cook it gently for another 30 mins,p stirring occasionally, after the sweet pot and lentils have cooked to thicken the sauce.
• If you add meat or fish make sure it is cooked before serving. The timings given are for making the recipe without meat or fish.
• When you are ready to serve stir in the spinach and a little of the coriander finely chopped.

I serve this with basmati rice cooked in chicken stock and one of my garlic and coriander naan breads…… recipe at the end of this post…. I top the dopiaza with a spoonfull of Greek yogurt and a sprinkling of fresh coriander.

I call these naan breads, but they are not really they are an enriched bread dough which does have to be left to rise. I always make sure I have a few in the freezer, to be heated up in minutes. They can also be used as wraps if you don’t brush with the garlic and herb butter.

I use dry active yeast, if you want to use fresh yeast, double the amount. You can use the bread machine dry yeast, but you need about half as much again.

You need about 100ml of liquid at blood heat, either water, milk or a mixture. I use about half cold milk and half boiled, slightly cooled water…..dip your little finger in it…if it feels warm it’s the right temperature. Sprinkle in about 14g of dry active or 28g fresh yeast a tsp of sugar and whisk until mixed….leave for about 15mins until bubbly. Measure 300g of strong bread flour into a bowl and add 1tsp of salt and 1tsp of sugar. Make a well in the centre and add 25g of melted butter, 150ml of Greek yogurt and the yeast mixture. Either mix well then knead by hand for about 10 minutes or use a food mixer with a dough hook. If the mixture is too sloppy add more flour, if dry add a little warm water, until you have a very soft dough. Place in an oiled or buttered bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size. Remove from the bowl, divide into 6 and roll into thin circles about 7″ 18cm. Heat a dry frying pan and heat the naans for about 3mins each side. Freeze at this stage, or melt 25g of butter with a 1tsp of garlic paste and some finely chopped coriander and brush the breads generously….eat and enjoy😋

If you make this recipe I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Let me know❤️

Love M. XXX