Red Bell Pepper, Chick-pea & Sweet Potato Carrot Curry With Lemon & Turmeric Rice

Red Bell Pepper, Chick-pea & Sweet Potato Carrot Curry

With Lemon & Turmeric Rice

Photography by Rainbow Chef. Copyright © 2018. All rights reserved

Welcome back everyone! I hope you are all well and having a fabulous week so far whatever you’ve been up too. I myself have been working hard on developing up more recipes to share with you all.

I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to cooking and baking, I always seem to float around thinking up what I can make for tea that’s different as one does get into a routine of cooking the same things every week (and I’m sure you can all relate to this in your own way), it’s so easy to get stuck into habits isn’t it?

Every Wednesday is Curry Night and although I am contradicting myself here I never tire of a Curry EVER! There are just so many varieties out there that it’s impossible to get bored, I’d say I get more inspired the more I discover recipes. This time I decided to embark on creating my very own Recipe, for some reason I woke up one morning with an idea in my head and had to start experimenting so out came the Food Processor and a collection of my favourite ingredients.

I tend to make Tomato based curries but this time I wanted to have a play with my idea of using a vegetable sauce, something a little sweeter and also quite a traditional vegetable used in Indian cuisine; the humble Carrot!

It’s kind funny actually because Once I had made the sauce it suddenly dawned on me that I had made a Carrot and coriander (Cilantro) soup pretty much BUT it works SO incredibly well with the other ingredients.

Sweet, Aromatic and flavourful, this is certainly a more hearty Curry but very healthy; a real comfort food, perfect for packing in those extra veggies into your daily intake and also a fab way to disguise veggies into the kiddies meals too!  I designed this Curry to be quite saucy (Oh I say!) so you can enjoy mopping it up with Dairy-free Naan Bread OR Chapattis. The Lemon Tumeric Rice adds a nice contrast as the acid from the Lemon cuts through the Sweetness from the Carrots to give a lovely balanced flavour.

What Will I Need?

Medium Cooking pan

Hot Plate OR Frying Pan

Mortar & Pestle

Food Processor OR Blender

Large Cooking Pan

Measuring Spoons

Sharp Chopping Knife

Measuring Jug

1 X Drinking Mug

Large Cooking Pan

Grater OR Zester

Colander

Ingredients

Serves 5-6

For the Sauce

6 Large Carrots

6 Cloves Garlic

½ Tsp. Sea Salt

15g Fresh Coriander PLUS extra for serving

450 ml water

 For the Vegetables

1 Tbsp. Rapeseed Oil

2 Tbsp. Water

1 Medium Yellow Onion roughly chopped

1 Medium Red Onion roughly chopped

1 Large Sweet Potato peeled and Chopped (about 2 cm pieces)

1 Large Red Bell Pepper

1 x 400g Tin chick-Peas in Water drained and rinsed

1 Tsp. Cumin Seeds

1 Tsp. Garam Masala

½ Tsp. Tumeric Powder

½ Tsp. Fenugreek Powder

1 Dairy and Egg Free Vegetable Stock Cube OR 1 Tsp. Free From Vegetable Stock Powder.

Large Handful Fresh Spinach

For the Tumeric Rice

1 Cup Dry Wholegrain Rice

1 Tsp. Tumeric Powder

Zest 1 x Lemon

Juice Half Lemon

Pinch of Sea Salt

Water

Method

1. Toast the Cumin Seeds on a Hot Plate OR Frying pan over a high Heat until fragrant (be careful not to burn); Grind in a Mortar and Pestle. This will ensure you get the most flavour out of the Spice.
2.  Add the Carrots to a medium size Cooking Pan, cover with water and bring to the boil before turning down to simmer until the Carrots are just tender. Drain and run them under cold water to cool.
3. Place the carrots and all the other sauce ingredients to the Food processor OR Blender (EXCLUDING the water to start with); blitz until smooth then with the motor running, gradually add half of the water until you have a thick soup texture. Set aside.
4. Add the Rapeseed Oil and Water, turn up the heat to medium and cook the Onions until just turning tender and golden.
5. Add the Sweet Potato to the pan and cook covered for 7 minutes
6. Add the Red Bell Pepper and Chick-peas to the Pan and cook covered for 5 minutes.
7. Add all the spices mix to coat the vegetables evenly, let cook for 5 minutes (you may need to deglaze the pan with a little splash of water in-between to prevent the Spices from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning).
8. Add the Carrot Puree Mixture along with the remainder of the water and vegetable Stock Cube, bring to the boil then turn down on a low-medium heat to simmer. (if the mixture is too thick, you may need to add a little extra water). Lastly, stir in the Spinach and let cook covered for 20 minutes, then take off the lid and cook for a further 15 minutes until you have a lovely thick consistency.

For the Rice

Whilst the curry is bubbling away, you can prepare the Rice!

1. Fill a large cooking pan just over half way with water and bring to the boil; add the rice, stir and turn down the heat to medium. Cover and let simmer for 25 minutes unless the pack states otherwise.
2. Drain then pop back in the Large Cooking Pan along with the Lemon Zest, Lemon Juice and Sea Salt; stir until the rice is coated evenly with the Turmeric and Lemon.

 Serve Hot with the Curry nestled in the rice OR on the side, however you like it!

Serving Suggestions

Delicious served up over the Lemon Tumeric Rice with a generous dollop of Mangoe Chutney, cool Raita and Naan Bread!

TIP! Got loads left over? Freeze it! This curry is even more awesome after freezing as the flavours develop over time.

Pop inside a Chapatti and make a Curry Wrap; your lunch box will never be dull again!

I hope you enjoy this recipe, I would love to see your results and hear what you think, please comment below this recipe it would be lovely to meet you!