A Kerala Kitchen curry for the weekend

Healthy eating: This amazing southern Indian recipe is packed with healthy ingredients

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Kerala Kitchen Kovalam subji curry (vegetable curry). Photograph: Nathalie Marquez Courtney; styled by Lesiele Juliet

Kerala Kitchen Kovalam subji curry (vegetable curry). Photograph: Nathalie Marquez Courtney; styled by Lesiele Juliet

 

It’s almost the weekend, and maybe you are looking forward to an Indian takeaway. Or perhaps you’re in the mood to make a curry at home, from scratch. Get the best of both worlds with this vegetable-curry recipe from the popular Kerala Kitchen restaurants in Baggot Street and Stoneybatter in Dublin.

January is Health Month in The Irish Times. Throughout the month, in print and online, we will be offering encouragement and inspiration to help us all improve our physical and mental health in 2021. See irishtimes.com/health
January is Health Month in The Irish Times. Throughout the month, in print and online, we will be offering encouragement and inspiration to help us all improve our physical and mental health in 2021. See irishtimes.com/health

“It’s as close as you can get to coastal Indian cooking without flying to Kerala and inviting yourself to dinner. Brings us back to long days on Kovalam beach,” says Grainne Flynn, who runs the restaurants with her husband Lewis Cummings.

There is quite a long list of ingredients required. But if you poke around in your spice cupboard, you may find that you already have most of them.

Kerala Kitchen Kovalam subji curry (vegetable curry)

Serves four

Ingredients
1 large red onion, chopped
1tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1tsp garlic, crushed
½ head broccoli, cut into florettes
½ head cauliflower, cut into florettes
2 carrots, diced
Handful green beans, roughly chopped
1 red chilli
4 tomatoes, chopped
4 curry leaves, fresh or frozen
1 sprig fresh coriander, chopped, for garnish (about 1tbsp of leaves)
1 bay leaf
4 green cardamom
1 green chilli, seeds removed and slit in half
1tsp tamarind pulp
¼tsp turmeric powder
½tsp cumin powder
½tsp coriander powder
½tsp chilli powder
½tsp black mustard seeds
100ml coconut milk
Salt to taste

Method
1 Heat oil in a pan. When it is hot, add green cardamom, whole red chilli and mustard seeds and cook until they crackle.

2 Add curry leaves, chopped onions, bay leaf and green chilli, and cook till the onion turns brown, stirring continuously.

3 Add chopped ginger and garlic, and cook for two minutes. On a low heat add turmeric, cumin, coriander and chilli powder. Add chopped tomatoes and cook for five minutes.

4 Add all of the vegetables to the sauce along with a cup of water. Cook for five minutes.

5 Add tamarind paste and coconut milk and cook till the vegetables are tender, then add salt to taste.

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    1. A Kerala main dish would not generally include broccoli, and this is based saved for a Kerala side dish called Thoran. The best Kerala cooking is fish based and l would recommend eliminating the broccoli here and instead adding prawns, or cubes of white fish to the sauce. You can stir fry these lightly in a sparate pan and add them to the completed sauce, or simmer gently till cooked in the sauce. Stir fry chicken dice woulld work too. You dont need to worry about tamarind pulp- supermarkets and speciality stores stock tamarind paste which is fine. Add gradually by the teaspoon till you get the balance you want; it adds a rich yet tangy note. Kerala cooking also uses lamb so if you are on an lrish produce drive (l am); there are good Kerala recipes online!

      • Very helpful comment Helena. I instinctively shuddered a little at the mention of brocc in this curry and nodded at your suggestion of prawns. Also glad for your view on the tamarind puree as I would like to make this but zero chance of sourcing that particular ingredient faoi lathair.

      • Pity this comment was needed to make the recipe more useful by in a domestic setting. Perhaps the columnist will learn from it.

    2. have no idea where to get a number of the 20 ingredients in this recipe. Tamarind pulp?

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