Curry – my version

There’s no official recipe for Curry, everyone has their own way of preparing and eating it, so I will just share the way I learned and the way I enjoy eating it! It may look complicated or confusing, but once you get the general idea of amounts, etc, then it’s easy to adapt it to your liking!

Ingredients:

- coconut oil, olive oil or palm oil to cover bottom of large pot
- 1-2 onions (chopped into half-moon shape)
- 2-3 tomatoes (chopped into half-moon shape)
- 1 tsp garlic (crushed)
- 1 tsp ginger (crushed)
- 2 large potatoes cut into large chunks
- 2 large portions of meat of your choice
- salt to taste

Spices:
- 2 tsp cumin/jeera seeds
- 1 tsp aniseed
- 2 pieces of star anise
- 2-4 cardamon pods (black and/or green)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3-4 curry leaves
- 1 tbs garam masala
- 1 tsp haldi powder (turmeric)
- 1/2-1 tsp chili powder (based on heat of chili powder and preference of spice)

What to Do:

Heat oil in the pot, test with a piece of onion. When test onion sizzles, add the rest of the onions. Allow to fry until the onions begin to soften.

Add cumin, aniseed, star anise, cardamon pods, cinnamon sticks, curry leaves and garam masala. Mix and allow spices to fry, but be careful to watch heat so as not to burn. After a few minutes, add tomatoes, garlic, ginger, haldi powder (turmeric) and chili powder. Mix and continue to fry, if mixture is too dry, add a little bit of water. Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes or until tomatoes get soft and fall apart.

Add potatoes, add water to cover and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, then cover partially and allow to boil gently for 15-20 minutes (or until potatoes begin to soften).

Add meat, making sure it is covered by the sauce (adding water if necessary). Bring to a boil while stirring, then lower heat, cover and simmer until meat is cooked.

The curry is ready to serve once the meat is cooked and potatoes are soft.

Alternatively, you can prepare the curry ahead of time and allow to simmer gently until you are ready to serve, the flavours permeate the meat and potatoes the longer you allow it to sit together.

If you find the spice too intense, either add less chili powder, or add some cream, coconut milk (gives it more of a Thai flavour) or Greek yoghurt before serving or a pat of butter to individual dishes.

Serve with rice and/or naan bread. Also good with a side dish of Greek yoghurt with a chopped green pepper mixed in, and any pickle (my favourite is lime).