Food Dump!

This curry is great because you can make the sauce up separately and store it for a few days in the fridge before using it.

Ingredients :

For the sauce :

• 1 tsp of Cumin seeds
• 1 tsp Coriander seeds
• 1/4 tsp Fennel Seeds
• 1 tsp Black Mustard seeds
• 1 Onion, finely chopped
• 4 chillis, whole and slit up one side
• 1 tins of Tomatoes
• 1 cloves of Garlic
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp Tumeric
• 1.5 tsp Garem Masala
• 0-1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper (depending on how hot you like your curry, standard warning applies).
• 8 Curry Leaves (you can buy these in any Asian store, often in huge bunches which will happily sit in the freezer)

For the Lentils :

• 1/2 a cup of Brown Lentils (I like these the best because they don’t need soaking and cook quickly)
• 500ml Vegetable Stock.
• 1 handful chopped Coriander leaves and stalks.

Method :

1. Roughly grind the Cumin, Fennel and Coriander seeds
2.  In a heavy-bottomed saucepan heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and add the crushed seeds, along with the Black Mustard seeds.
3. Fry with the lid on (because the black mustard seeds like to explode) for 2-3 mins, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the chopped onions and whole chillis and fry for 10 mins until coloured.
5. Meanwhile put the garlic and tomatoes into a jug and blitz with a hand blender until totally smooth
6. Once the onions are ready add the tomatoes with the Paprika, Tumeric, Garem Masala and, if you’re using it, the Cayenne.
7. Stir and simmer for 20 mins
8. Add the curry leaves and simmer again for 40 mins.

You now have a spicy tomato curry base you can use for different things. This will happily sit for a few hours, or in the fridge for up to 3 days and can be combined with different things for different meals. For the lentil curry :

1. Put the lentils and veg stock in a saucepan
2. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 mins, until the lentils are soft and cooked (if they look to be too dry add extra hot water)
3. Drain the lentils in a colander. If you fancy making a dahl simply blitz the lentils with a hand blender to a porridge consistency. I prefer them unblended myself.
4. Once the sauce is cooked add the lentils and chopped coriander. Cook for 10 mins to combine the flavours.

Serve with rice and Naan bread to mop up. As noted above you can use the sauce for different curries as well. Adding a tin of Chickpeas, half a tin of coconut milk and some red and green peppers would give you a really tasty veggie curry.

You can also serve this as part of a spicy dinner, serving it with Tandoori chicken on the side.