Medium Madras Style
8-12 Dried red whole chillies (soaked in water for 10 minutes to soften) 3 tsps Each ground paprika and coriander 4 Peppercorns 2 Bay leaves 4”/10cm Cinnamon stick 6 Whole cloves 1 tsp Each poppy and cumin seeds ½ tsp Fennel Seed 1”/2.5cm Piece of fresh ginger root 6 Large cloves of garlic 2 tbsp Coconut oil 2 Large onions, sliced 4 Large tomatoes, chopped 200ml/7 fl oz Coconut milk
Directions
1. Grind/blend together the first 10 ingredients, adding a little water to make a paste consistency
2. Heat the oil in a pan and sweat off the onions, browning slightly
3. Add the paste you have made and cook for 10-15 minutes stirring in around 3tbsp of water to keep from drying out
4. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for around 5 minutes (if you are going to freeze, stop here)
5. Put your choice of vegetables, lentils, tofu, beans (make sure these are cooked if dried or tinned if not)
6. Add 200ml/7 fl oz of water , bring back to a boil and simmer the whole dish for around 20 minutes until everything is cooked
7. Add the coconut milk and bring back to a boil, turn off the heat and let it sit for a minute
Tips
- Take the first 8 dried ingredients and put into a jar and store as “madras style spice mix”
- If you are going to freeze this take it to step 4 make sure you double up or more to save time
- You can freeze the whole thing but I find the vegetables go soggy when frozen, but that may not bother you
- At step 5 you can put the ingredients into the refrigerator as this will keep for 4/5 days
