Congratulations & Curry

Chef’s Own Curry

 

Time taken: Half an hour

Ingredients: A carrot, a stick of celery, a handful of cherry tomatoes, some fresh basil leaves, a clove of garlic, a vegetable stock cube, oil, two tablespoons of curry paste and one of tomato puree. And a naan bread.

Hi readers,

Today you’re feeling… ? How does that sentence end? How are you really feeling? Think about it. Honestly, today I’m feeling doubtful. About everything. Life. I find that once you let one doubt in, they all hit you at once.

 

Should I spend more time working? Or less? Eat more? Or less? Sleep more? Or less? Talk more? Or less?? Should I have come to uni? What will I do after? Where is my life heading and where will I be in a year? Who will I be, what will I do, which city will I live in? Will it all be worth this?!

 

Me and many of my friends are going through a time of uncertainty. Worry. Stress. Pressure. Panic. Fear. Which, funnily enough not at ALL, is a subject I’m writing a 10,000-word dissertation on.

 

And some days it has you down. All of it does. There’s ALSO tons of really good things going on in my life too. But, you know, some days you let things get to you. Tomorrow will be better.

 

Things at home in Sheffield are very positive because my Brother Bear has been offered a wonderful opportunity! He’s going to start on a top notch, well paid, really competitive engineering apprenticeship in September!! It sounds like a REALLY solid scheme he’s earned himself a place on. Literally, everyone at home’s so proud of him. He went all the way to Nottingham for an interview, risked missing a Sheffield United game over it (!!!) and he aced it!

 

To me, my Brother Bear’s still about six year’s old with spiky hair, a Lightsaber and pockets full of Crazy Bones. And now he’s going to be a man with a van. What is life???

 

 

To celebrate his big news, everyone’s been out for a curry tonight at home. As is the tradition on such occasions. And so, following suit, I’ve made a curry here too! I’m joining them in spirit. And sending long distance high fives to my Bro!!

 

If you’ve occasion for a curry, he’s how to throw one together in ten easy steps…

1. Heat your oven to 200˚C.

2. Prep your ingredients! Chop your carrot and celery into small chunks. Cut your tomatoes in half. Very finely chop your garlic and then shred your basil leaves.

3. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and add your garlic, carrot and celery.

4. Cook for a few minutes until your carrot is tender.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Keep everything moving around the pan so that nothing has the time to burn!

5. Crumble your stock cube into the pan and add your curry paste, along with half a mug of water.

6. Stir it up! Then leave to simmer for ten minutes.

7. Meanwhile, flick either side of your naan bread with a little water and pop it into the oven to warm.

8. When the curry in your pan has thickened and doesn’t look watery, add your tomato puree, chopped tomatoes and basil leaves. Stir it up!

9. Flip your naan over in the oven so that its other side can warm.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: I would pop a plate in the oven with it to take the chill off the plate. You can't get in there though, no matter how chilly you are.

10. After a few minutes, take your plate out of the oven along with your naan bread. Cut the naan into quarters. Spoon your curry over the top and serve up!

Here’s my delicious curry from earlier tonight :)

 

It really isn’t a hard dish to make! You don’t need to travel to India or taken a course in spices. You don’t need to convert to Hinduism or seek approval in an ashram from a mystic guru, before you can have a try at one. Flippin’ eck. It’s just a curry. And, so I hear, this is actually a British dish the way we make it. It’s home grown. There’s no advanced culinary knowledge required. No exotic components. A curry is as simple to prepare, readers, as the plot of a Bollywood film.

 

Plus, you don’t need to make a vat of the stuff and then eat curry for the rest of 2015! A common misconception, that is. This recipe makes for ONE PORTION of very fiery, tomato-y curry. It’s extremely filling and tasty. Also, very healthy and nutritious. Without ANY expensive or hard-to-come-by ingredients. And you can switch up the ingredients all you like! Anything goes. Onion, mushroom, cauliflower, peas… loads of veg work in curry. You decide.

 

I enjoyed this tea far more than I expected to. So, I may not have been eating out at a restaurant at home with the Fam, that was true. And a shame. But this didn’t stop me from tucking into some decent grub, all the same. I don’t know if I’ve once before cooked curry without a jar of Lloyd Grossman’s to hand… until today. Now there’s no going back!

 

Readers, I urge you to make the move with me and give homemade curry a try. There’s nothing to stop you and nothing to lose! And you just might really like this. Don’t doubt it. And don’t doubt yourself.

Spice safely,

Hayley