My Indian stock of ingredients is actually rather thin, so I had to go for a raid of the Asian grocers again, it's becoming a little bit of an expensive habit- I spent nearly £20 today on 'stock'. I bought the necessary spices but took a little indulgence with some Poppadoms. I was recommended by Jamie Oliver (yeh, because I know him personally) to buy Poppadoms that come vacuum-packed that you cook yourself. They're cheaper, better tasting and mine had a rather alluring, scary pink bunny on the packaging.
I do like staying traditional with curry, unless I'm making one of my stew/curry things which contain really whatever I've got on hand, so I kept the same spices of a proper Jalfrezi but altered the amounts and the consistency of the curry to suit me.
1)Finely chop two small onions, and fry them in a little vegetable oil with three cloves of crushed garlic until the onions go really soft and translucent. As much as I trust Nigella Lawson wholeheartedly, her shortcut of using garlic-infused oil instead of fresh garlic is a flawed one- not only is it too expensive to cook with as frequently as regular vegetable oil, it doesn't impart nearly enough flavour. Tumble a diced red and yellow pepper in and cook that down too.
2)Add your spices- 1 tsp each of garam masala, turmeric, chilli powder, and ground coriander and stir them in. You can alter this depending on how spicy and fragrant you want it. Also add 2 400g tins of chopped tomatoes, but I had the same weight of cherry tomatoes which I chopped in. You'll need to add more water if you use fresh ones. Always when you put chopped tomatoes in a dish you should add a pinch of sugar, to balance the tartness.
3)After letting that cook for about 6 minutes, add 150g of frozen broad beans, and cook them for another 5-ish minutes, until they're tender, which, admittedly, they're often not which is why they can have a bad rep. They go nice and sweet and mild when they cook for long enough. Give it a good simmer. I must admit, I don't think I've ever made a stew/curry/casserole without having it burn a little on the bottom, but, apparently, this is sometimes done deliberately in India to add flavour.
4)Prepare the rice whilst that bubbles away- the ratio you need here is 1 cup long-grain rice (although I mixed it up with basmati) to 2 cups liquid, and I like to use 1 1/2 cups boiling water and 1/2 cup coconut milk. Boil the rice gently for 10 minutes, then let it stand for 2 more so it can soak it up and dry out. Fluff it up with a fork to finish. You can also add some green beans and peas whilst it's cooking if you like.
5)Add the remaining half a can of coconut milk to the curry, along with a finely chopped head of coriander, keeping some milk and leaves to sprinkle at the end. It's not traditional, but I love the creaminess and it helps to bring the dish together.
6)For the poppadoms, cook them to package instructions and instead of dipping them, which is quite a British thing, crumble them over your curry and eat with it to add texture.
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