Need veggie curry help please!

[MyLifeIsStillChaotic]

We don't eat meat. I used to make curries with quorn but dh has gone off it now, and isn't a massive fan of a simple curry sauce (as in cheat, out of a bottle) with mixed vegetables.

I aim to 'wow' him with lovely, tasty, homemade veggie curries (as I love curry and would get to eat it more often this way) and therefore would like your help please.

Do you have any recommendations for either a great vegetarian curry cookbook, or a normal one that has a good selection of meat-free curries? Or failing that, do you have any recipes you would be willing to share please?

He likes chinese style curry and indian curry, but he can't stand thai curry.

TIA :)

HI there. Pretty much any curry/indian cook book written by an Indian chef will have a range of meat free dishes. Look at: Anjum Anand and Madhur Jaffrey

hi. I'm Indian (but not veggie, though my parents are so brought up with veggie food). I would recommend looking for south Indian or Gujarati recipes as those have more vegetarian dishes, rather than trying to recreate curry house meals minus meat.

it's all about combining textures in a meal too, as there would normally be a dryer veg curry alongside a soupy dhal.

Das Sreedharan's 'Fresh Flavours of India' is good for south Indian dishes, and agree that Anjum Anand has some good veggie recipes too.

Paneer and spinach /pea curry! Yum.

I use spice mixes from the spice shop www.thespiceshop.co.uk/. Their 'curried vegetable mix' is lovely and they do mail order. It is nice on its own, or add 4tablespoons of yoghurt mixed with a couple of teaspoons of ground almonds at the very end of cooking to make it creamy. I also make lots of dahls with lentils or chickpeas.

Use good basmati rice and steam it to get it all lovely and fluffy.

Madhur Jaffrey's curry easy is a great book, not a curry but her okra with shallots recipe always tastes beautiful!

I make a big batch of this and freeze it in meal sized portions and then add extra vegetables when I cook it - usually potatoes, spinach and chickpeas. It is really nice and when I cooked it for my Indian mil, she thought it was excellent ( and she is hard to please ).

I have a great recipe...

3 cloves chopped garlic, one clove size of chopped ginger, chopped onion

Fry up with curry leaves if you have, cumin seeds, turmeric, chilli powder (however much you like), fennel seeds, dash of ground cinnamon, ground coriander optional. Alternatively you could use a curry powder to replace all of that.

Add lentils (about 1.5cups) and salt and water and boil rapidly for 10 mins. Top up water if it's getting dry.

Add coconut milk (and fresh coriander, ground black pepper if you have it)

You can add any other vegetables at the boiling stage, or just have it with lentils.

Serve with basmati and/ or parathas (Get the frozen ones, so easy and delish).

(Oh yes, to the above recipe I often add spinach at the end too - either fresh or frozen).

Thanks ever so much for your help - some good recipes there

I think I might see what the library has in terms of Anjum Anand and Madhur Jaffrey and see how I get on with them :)

Thanks again

I was inspired by this thread to make the Jamie Oliver curry base (and accompanying veg curry) last night....brilliant!

DH arrived home as I was frying off the spices and was practically salivating as soon as he got through the front door :) :)

For some reason, I have never made curry from scratch before (did it very occasionally using those yukky sauces when I was a student) and it was completely fab.

Thank you! Even better, I now have 5 tupperwares full of 'base' for 2 in the freezer....hurrab!!

(PS Just because I can never resist tweaking a recipe slightly, I used about half the oil - I don't think it made any difference - and soya cream instead of coconut milk as mine had gone rather disgusting. And I chucked a cubed up aubergine into the veg curry which went very melt-y and amazing.....)

Ooh yum. Can you post the recipe please? I tried the cauliflower curry in this months Olive magazine and it just tasted really bland.

Frontpaw, check out winetimes link, earlier in the thread....then somewhere else on the same site, there are instructions on using the 'base' sauce for making a veggie curry (basically, just slice and gently cook an onion, chuck in some cubed/chopped veg and a good whack of the base suace, cook for 20-30 mins).

I must admit I played a bit loose with all the timings, and had the whole lot (base sauce and veg curry using base sauce) cooked and served in just under an hour.

That's great Filly. I will make that Jamie recipe a definite for this weekend then :)

I got Everyday Indian from the library and it looks ok but not really too sure about some of the ingredients

This book is great - Hansa's is a brilliant Gujarati veggie restaurant in Leeds. We moved and I still miss it but we can make some of the stuff at home.

Hansa's reminds me of being a student, some of my house mates worked there. A couple of years ago DH took me back to Leeds for my 15th wedding anniversary and we ate there. Why can't we have Hansa's in Surrey...

Thanks for the recommendation WombOnTheBroom

It's Indian Everyday I borrowed, not Everyday Indian

Jamies are fab, easy to follow recipes, easy to find ingredients! Ive made all of them, and the veggie one is lovely

I have been making a chickpea curry recently which is amazing; recipe is added here

Tarka Dhal is very quick and simple to make and it's delicious.

Wash some red lentils well in a sieve to get rid of any bits of grit. Then put in a saucepan with double the quantity of water and a teaspoon of turmeric. No other seasoning at this point. Bring to the boil and simmer until the lentils are cooked (about 15-20 mins).

Meanwhile make the tarka (this is what will season your lentils). Heat a frying pan and fry up your crushed spices (you can experiment here with a mix of whatever you like - I use black mustard seeds, fenugreek, cinnamon, cumin), lots of crushed/chopped/sliced garlic, grated fresh ginger if you like it, chopped chilli, some finely sliced onions/shallots, chopped tomatoes. You can use oil or ghee for added flavour and richness. You then stir this mix into your cooked lentils and season to taste. Don't be shy with the salt. I often stir in some spinach at the end which wilts nicely in the hot dhal.

This is good as a main curry on its own served with rice, chappatis, some plain yogurt dolloped on top, fresh coriander, chilli oil drizzled over. Or you can make it as a simple wet curry accompaniment to another, dryer veg curry.

It makes lovely curry pasties too if you have leftovers. Mix the leftover dhal with some crushed potato or sweet potato, adjust the seasoning to taste and use as your pasty filling. Particularly nice in a wholemeal shortcrust pastry with a little turmeric added to the flour :)

Mmmm loving the sound of curry pasties

Thanks Prolesworth