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Malaysian-style vegetable and coconut curry

By: Rose Elliot

Vegetarian cookbook writer Rose Elliot’s rich coconut curry is bursting with Malaysian flavours. Serve with rice for a quick, meat-free midweek meal.

Vegetarian cookbook writer Rose Elliot’s rich coconut curry is bursting with Malaysian flavours. Serve with rice for a quick, meat-free midweek meal.

Ingredients

For the curry paste

For the vegetable curry

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To make the curry paste, put the desiccated coconut into a dry frying pan and stir over a medium heat until it turns slightly golden. Remove from the heat immediately and tip it into a food processor or deep bowl suitable for using a stick blender in. You need to be speedy to make sure the coconut doesn’t overcook in the hot pan and get too brown. Add the garlic, onion, lemongrass, chillies, ginger, turmeric, salt and sugar, then whizz to a thick paste.
Heat the oil in a deep frying pan, then add the paste. Stir for a couple of minutes to cook the spices, then add the coconut milk, tamarind paste, star anise and cinnamon stick. Bring to the boil, stirring, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
Add the parboiled carrots and the cabbage to the pan, then continue to cook gently for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and the sauce is thick and glossy. Add the petits pois and cook for a few minutes more to heat through.

Season to taste with salt and lime juice, then serve scattered with the coriander and crushed peanuts.

Nutrition: per serving

Make double the amount of curry paste and store in the fridge in a sterilised jar for up to a week. Use it as a base for soup or, if you eat fish, a spicy marinade.

If not everyone you’re cooking for likes their curry hot, use chilli flakes instead of fresh chillies, adding them to part of the curry at the end of the cooking time.