Sweet potato, coconut and spinach curry with tarka dhal

Name: Sweet potato, coconut and spinach curry with tarka dhal
Cuisine: Indian, Asian
Ingredients: 60ml groundnut or sunflower oil; 2 white onions, diced; Ginger; Garlic; 800g sweet potatoes, chopped into 5cm chunks; 1 tbsp curry powder; 1 tsp tumeric; 500g whole leaf large spinach, roots cut off and well washed; 50g ground almonds; 2 green chillies, sliced thickly; 1 tin of coconut milk; Juice of half a lime; 3 tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil; 8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped; 1 tbsp seed spices, such as mustard, cumin and coriander; 4 cardamom pods, smashed with the side of a knife (discard the husks and just use the seeds); 250g dried split peas, (yellow or green); Basmati rice; Chutney; Yoghurt; Naan/ roti

5 steps

Updated at: Sun, 19 Nov 2023 13:52:00 GMT

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Ingredients

6 servings

For the curry

60mlgroundnut oil

800gsweet potatoes

chopped into 5cm chunks

1 Tbspcurry powder

1 tsptumeric

500gwhole leaf spinach

large, roots cut off and well washed

50gground almonds

For the daal

3 Tbspgroundnut oil

or vegetable

8garlic cloves

roughly chopped

1 Tbspseed spices

such as mustard, cumin and coriander

4cardamom pods

smashed with the side of a knife, discard the husks and just use the seeds

250gdried split peas

yellow or green

To serve, optional

Instructions

Step 1

1. Get the curry going first. In a wide, heavy-based pan, fry the onion in the oil with a lid on to soften for about 5 minutes. Optional add ginger and garlic after a few mins. Stir in the sweet potato chunks, curry powder and tumeric and fast-fry with the lid off until it begins to stick to the bottom.

Step 2

2. In two batches, stir in the spinach, adding the ground almonds and chilli. When all the spinach is in the pot and beginning to collapse, pour in the coconut milk, add some salt, stir well and put the lid back on.

Step 3

3. Keep it at an active simmer, stirring from time to time, for about 20 minutes until the spuds are cooked. Take the lid off and let the curry reduce down to a thicker consistency (another 10 minutes or so).

Step 4

4. For the dhal, gently fry the garlic and all the seeds (don't forget the cardamom) in the oil until they are a deep golden brown. Tip in the split peas and give them a good roll around in the garlicky oil then pour in 1 litre of water and turn the heat up.

Step 5

5. Slowly bring it to a gentle boil over around 10 minutes then skim, cover and leave to simmer for 45 minutes-1 hour until the peas are well-cooked. Taste for seasoning - dried pulses take a lot of salt to reach their flavour zenith.