Chinese Vegetable Curry

This Chinese style vegetable curry is really simple to make and is an easy way to get some veggies into your meals!

This recipe is adaptable so you can use whatever vegetables you like. You could even add some pan fried tofu to the curry for some protein.

VEGETABLES

I used broccoli, mushrooms, carrots and peas in my curry but you can adapt the recipe and use whatever veg you like. Baby corn and snow peas would work well!

Pan fry the vegetables in a little oil and season with a touch of salt and pepper.

Cook until the broccoli is tender but still has a little bite to it.

SPICES

For this curry I used red chilli powder, turmeric, medium curry powder and some cornstarch to thicken the sauce.

SAUCE

To make the Chinese curry sauce begin by sautéing onions, garlic and ginger in a splash of any neutral cooking oil (I used sunflower).

Once softened, add the spices to your onions, garlic and ginger. Cook for a few minutes to allow the spices to toast in the oil - adding the spices now allows for a more intense flavour at the end.

After a few minutes add 500 ml of vegetable stock to the pan and let the sauce cook for roughly 10 minutes until thickened.

Once thick, use a hand blender to blend the sauce until smooth.

This step is optional - I like to put my sauce through a sieve to ensure it's extra smooth!

Add your cooked vegetables to the sauce and mix until the vegetables are coated in the curry sauce. Done!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 onion (finely chopped)

• 2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)

• Small thumb of ginger (finely sliced)

• 1 broccoli (cut into medium sized florets)

• 3 small carrots (sliced)

• 180 g white mushrooms (sliced)

• 80 g frozen petits pois peas

• Neutral oil (I used sunflower)

• 1 tsp turmeric

• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder

• 2 tsp medium curry powder

• 4 tsp cornflour

• 600 ml good quality vegetable stock

• Salt

• Pepper

METHOD:

1) Heat a large pan over medium heat and add 1 tbsp of oil to the pan. Once hot add the broccoli florets, sliced carrots, sliced mushrooms and peas.

2) Season the vegetables with a little salt and pepper (to desired taste) and cook until the broccoli is tender but still has a crunch to it.

3) In another pan heat 1 tbsp of oil over a medium heat and sauté the onions, garlic and ginger until soft.

4) Then add all of your spices and the cornflour to the onions, garlic and ginger to toast. Allow the spices to cook for a few minutes.

5) Next, slowly add the vegetable stock and keep stirring to incorporate the spices into the stock. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

6) Let the sauce cool and then blend with a hand blender until the sauce is smooth and lump free.

7) Run the sauce through a sieve to ensure it is extra smooth, as the ginger can leave a stringy texture to the sauce (this step is optional).

8) If the sauce is still too thin make cornflour slurry (1 tsp cornflour & 1 tsp water) and add it to the sauce. Stir continuously until you achieve your desired thickness.

9) Finally, stir the cooked vegetables into the curry sauce. This curry is perfect with a serving of sticky rice!