Mitch says: “I’m always getting requests to make vegetarian meals so I thought I’d oblige. But you won’t miss meat with this curry. It could almost convert me into being vegetarian (but not quite: I love fried chicken too much). As far as bang for your buck is concerned this is a winner and tastes fantastic. You can mix and match your vegetables; I use potatoes, peas and carrots but you could choose cauliflower, baby corn, broccoli, parsnips, sugar snaps or even courgettes.”

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 red chillies – 1 finely chopped and 1 left whole (deseeded for a milder flavour)
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely chopped
3 tsbp curry powder
400g tin chopped tomatoes
30g fresh coriander, chopped
2 baking potatoes, chopped into 2cm chunks
2 large carrots, chopped into 2cm chunks
100g frozen peas
50g spinach
300g white rice, washed until the water runs clear, to serve
salt and pepper

Method

Put a large pan or Dutch oven on a medium heat and add the oil and onions, along with a pinch of salt, and soften them. You need to be patient with the onions; they will take at least 15 minutes to cook and brown.

Add the chopped chilli, garlic and ginger and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring continuously. Add the curry powder and stir for a further 30 seconds, pouring in a drop of water to stop the spices burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Add the tomatoes with the coriander leaves and stalks (saving some of the leaves to serve later). Give it all a stir, then add the potatoes and carrots and 500ml water along with the whole chilli. Give everything another stir, put the lid on the pan and let it bubble away on a low heat for 20 minutes or until the potatoes start going soft.

Add the frozen peas along with the spinach and mix them through for a further 2 minutes.

While the curry is simmering put the rice into a pan, add 600ml boiling water and let it simmer on the lowest heat for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn off the heat and cover the pot in foil to trap the residual heat. Allow it to steam for a further 15 minutes (do not be tempted to take the foil off or it will not cook properly).

Taste the curry and add more salt if necessary. Scatter over the remaining coriander leaves and serve with the rice.

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