Living la vida coco
A summery coconut and chickpea curry, the best-ever tuna melt and blondie tribulations
Once again, I’m coming to you to say thank you for subscribing, and being so enthusiastic about these recipes and recommendations. I hope you’re enjoying the newsletter, and if you have any cooking conundrums, recipe suggestions or raging critiques then I’d love to hear them. Otherwise, I’d love it if you shared this week’s coconutty curry with your friends, family, lovers, enemies etc.
When the final few days of August hit, it’s safe to say everyone’s a little bit tired. There’s been a whole lot of summer fun, and it’s time to ease slowly into September with a nice long bank holiday weekend, the last of the summer rosé and an al fresco eating situation or two.
Before the pies and stews of a new season start taking up my brain space, I’ve been craving something in-between. A one-pot with warm spices, but that feels light with a hint of holiday in it. Enter this coconut chickpea curry. I love the fresh ginger, fenugreek and green chillies, all given a brisk wake-up call with a crucial squeeze of lime and sprinkle of desiccated coconut. I also can personally attest that this curry satisfied (and maybe even revived) two hungover friends, and is best accompanied by an old-school episode of America’s Next Top Model.
Summer coconut chickpea curry
Serves 4 (with rice or roti on the side)
2 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
1 onion
50g fresh ginger
3 cloves of garlic
2 green finger chillies
bunch of fresh coriander
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 a tsp ground fenugreek
1/2 a tsp turmeric
3 tbsp red lentils
1 x 400g can chickpeas
1 x 400g tin coconut milk
1 lime
2 tbsp desiccated coconut
Heat the oil in a large saucepan on a low heat. Finely chop the onion and add to the pan, cooking low and slow for 15 minutes until the onion is translucent with no brown spots.
Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the ginger and garlic, de-seed and finely chop the chillies, and finely chop the stalks from the bunch of coriander. Add to the onions and fry for a minute or so, then add the spices. Fry for another minute or so, adding a little water if the mixture is dry, then add the red lentils and coat with the spicy onion mix.
Add the chickpeas and coconut water, then half-fill the coconut milk can with water and swill out into the curry. Cook on a low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Turn off the heat, season to taste and serve with a squeeze of lime juice, scattering of fresh coriander leaves and some desiccated coconut over the top. I like this curry with roti, but it would be great with rice, chapattis, or whatever carb vessel you prefer.
I mention below that I am not good at making blondies. I am however, fairly good at making brownies, and this is my failsafe recipe. There is one thing that might befall a brownie maker, and this is impatience. If you want proper nice chunks of chocolate in your brownie/blondie, you need to make sure you cool that silky chocolate butter mixture right down before adding your choco chunks. If not, you’ll end up with very small chunks that have melted into the mixture, like my recent blondie adventure (no fault of the recipe I’d like to add, just my own haste).
Things to eat/watch/read
I had a MEGA tuna melt at the weekend at Snackbar in Dalston - there are some truly supreme sandos on that menu, and a nice little brunch cocktail selection too.
I have a problem with blondies (in that I can’t make them) and I hope this caramelised white chocolate and raspberry blondie recipe that’s currently cooling on my kitchen counter has broken the curse.
I’m already excited for the new series of Married at First Sight Australia starting on Monday, which will inevitably feature a man-child cooking a huge portion of spaghetti bolognese for the first time for his horrified bride.