We eat curry fairly frequently here, chez Real Food Made Easy — for a couple of reasons.
- It tastes pretty good, and we like pretty much all versions of it.
- It can be made up fairly quickly with a couple of pantry staples at hand, and a pressure cooker
- It is pretty versatile and works well as a freestyle item — no recipe needed, just a set of guidelines
Some people get intimidated by curry, but basically, it is a stew — and the same “rules” for making a tasty stew apply to curries — spend a little bit of time at the beginning developing the flavours, add liquid, and braise until everything is tender, and the flavours meld together. With some pre-cooked chickpeas (from a can or from the stash in the freezer), we can cook up a tasty curry in about 25 minutes — 10 minutes prep, and 15 minutes in the pressure cooker. A little bit longer if you’re going for a meaty curry.
When in doubt, a tasty braise is always on! If you notice, a lot of the tasty fancy dishes around the world are in fact, just versions of stew. Curry, coq au vin, boeuf bourginone, chicken paprikash, goulash, chicken tikka marsala, chicken pot pie = stew masquerading as pie!
For us, a quick curry is also a good way to empty out the fridge — just remember to keep the flavours complementary. For this curry, we had chickpeas and cauliflower (one of my favourite combos), with the addition of a cubed sweet potato, an apple cut in small dice, julienned ginger, lots of garlic and some apple butter that needed to be used up.
Go ahead and give it a shot! With the cauliflower, this is one instance where I like it cooked until it “melts” into the curry and starts to become part of the sauce. It stays nice and sweet that way, complementing the sweetness of the apple butter and sweet potato. It you want to switch it up, you can add coconut milk to the braising liquid, or diced, canned tomatoes. You can also amp up the onions and garlic, cut back on the ginger, add extra spices — its your curry, so go crazy!!!
Vegetable Curry in a Hurry
- 1 large onion, diced
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 2-3 Tablespoons garlic, finely julienned or minced
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3-4 Tablespoons curry paste (I use Patak’s but you can use your preferred brand)
- 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
- 1 medium sweet potato, sliced and cut into 3/4″ dice
- 3 cups cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 medium apple, cut into small dice
- 3 Tablespoons apple butter
- 2 to 1 1/2 cup vegetable stock (quanity depends on your pressure cooker)
Saute onions on medium heat until translucent. Add the garlic and ginger, and cook until onions are just starting to brown lightly. Add the curry paste, and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add all the other ingredients and mix to combine everything. Place the lid on the pressure cooker and bring the pressure up. Cook at high pressure for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let the pressure come down naturally. Give one last stir, and serve over rice, or with flatbread and raita.
Tonight’s version is a vegan curry, and if you serve it over rice, is also gluten-free