This is a staple of mine as it’s a healthy vegan dish. I serve it on its own with a cabbage salad (see recipe below) or with brown Basmati rice. It can be made in large quantities and kept in the fridge or freezer. I make this recipe up as I go along so apologies for the somewhat vague quantities!!

The best pan to use is this Le Creuset shallow casserole with lid. I use this pan for many one pot dishes and it’s definitely the pan I use most frequently.

The vegetables that I use depend on what I have in the fridge but I always bulk up the curry with pulses, usually green lentils. Aubergine (eggplant) is another veg that I usually add to this curry but I add this a bit later as it takes less cooking time. Just ensure the vegetables are not under or overcooked so either choose a selection that have moreorless the same cooking time or add them based on how long they take to cook.

I usually make my own Thai red curry paste but in this recipe I’ve used a jar of curry paste and enhanced it with a lot of ingredients for extra flavour.

Ingredients

600ml vegetable stock (I use vegetable stock cubes)

Ground nut oil

One large onion (or two medium ones)

1-2 sticks celery

1 leek

2-3 garlic cloves

2 red chillies including seeds

Ginger (chopped fresh or paste)

Lemongrass (grated fresh or paste)

1 small cinnamon stick

Small jar of Thai red curry paste

Dried lentils (green or Puy lentils or any other pulse e.g. chickpeas) which I have parboiled separately and drained

2 sweet potatoes – peeled and cut in chunks

½ butternut squash – cut in chunks (leave the skin on)

400 ml tin of coconut milk

Tomato concentrate, a couple of spoonfuls

Spinach leaves

Juice of a lime

Bunch of fresh coriander

Heat the groundnut oil in a large pan. Add the chopped onion, celery, leek, garlic, chillies, fresh ginger and lemongrass and fry gently for 15 minutes.

Add the chunks of squash and sweet potatoes and the jar of Thai red curry paste and mix well so the vegetables are well coated with the paste.

Add the tin of coconut milk, the tomato concentrate and the parboiled lentils, stir well and simmer until the vegetables and lentils are cooked.

Turn off the heat, add the washed spinach leaves (in these photos I used a bag of mixed spinach & kale leaves), the lime juice (add more if necessary) and the chopped coriander. You don’t want to cook these three ingredients so just stir them in and leave as they will “cook” in the heat of the curry.

If you don’t want to eat this with rice, my favourite alternative is a cabbage salad with fennel seeds. Finely shred some cabbage (any type) add some fennel seeds, salt & pepper to taste and dress with olive oil and some red or white wine vinegar.