FLOWER POT KITCHEN: SWEET POTATO AND CHIC PEA THAI COCONUT CURRY

7 Dec 2016

SWEET POTATO AND CHIC PEA THAI COCONUT CURRY

A GREAT MEAT FREE MONDAY VEGETARIAN EATING

Fabulous gorgeous wonderful so good for you, the planet and the animals who are not in this recipe! A bounty of flavour and health giving foods that your body will love you for and your tastes buds even more soooo...

Prep Time 10 minutes / Cooking Time 10 minutes

(serves 2-3)

Ingredients
1 sweet potato peeled diced
1 butternut peeled diced
1 can chic peas
1 onion diced
4 cm ginger grated
1 garlic chopped
1 lemongrass stalk chopped
4 fresh kaiffer lime leaves
1 lime juiced
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric fresh or powder
2 red chillies finely sliced
1 tbsp palm sugar
1 tbsp tamarind
Sea salt and white pepper
3 Handfuls spinach & watercress
1 large cup rice

This is a quick cook dinner and by using the start to finish cooking time of the rice this fabulous family meal can be on the table in 15 to 20 minutes, I have given you the 20 minute guide but the rice is ready at 15 minutes.

1. First put the rice on to cook as this will take 15-20 minutes. Wash the rice and drain, add to a pan along with two more large cups of water, this is important do not stir the rice at any point, pop on a lid and bring to a low gentle simmer for 10 minutes, do not take the lid off, when the 10 minutes is up take the rice off the heat and leaving the lid on place to one side to finish cooking for a further 5-10 minutes, then your perfect light fluffy rice is ready to serve. Meanwhile...

2. Bring a pan of seasoned water to a rolling boil and add the sweet potato and butternut squash and cook until tender, around 6 minutes, drain and add to your curry below...

3. Heat the coconut oil in a saucepan and add the onion and garlic gently soften for five minutes, then add the lemongrass, lime leaves and ginger, stir in then after a minute or so add the turmeric and kashmiri powder and stir in.

4. Next add the tamarind and lime juice along with the coconut milk and bring to a simmer, add the palm sugar, chillies, chic peas and the par boiled butternut squash and sweet potato bring to a simmer and season to taste with sea salt and white pepper. You can also adjust the flavour to your taste with more or less lime juice and palm sugar.

5. Place in your serving bowls a handful of the watercress and spinach, some rice and then a generous few ladles of your curry

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.