Banana Stir Fry Curry

If you don't know about banana in curry well you're missing out. It was something I tried for the first time at The Green Gathering festival (a totally vegetarian festival powered completely by renewable energy) and I immediately came home and made my boyfriend put banana in the next curry we made. And from then on I have been a banana curry convert. It adds a sweet taste that balances really well with the spice of curry and brings a creaminess to the dish. This recipe is a variation from a normal sauce-based curry though as it's stir fried and you don't add any liquid to the dish. It's super fragrant, it might be my most fragrant dish I have, I just love the smell of spices and tropical banana. I'm swooning at the thought of it.

Bananas are packed full of potassium, a mineral electrolyte needed to control the electrical activity of the heart, build muscle, and maintain normal body growth. Bananas are also high in fibre, vitamin B6 and contain significant amounts of vitamin A which is essential for protecting your eyes and maintaining normal vision. Carrots may get all the glory for helping your eyes, but bananas do their share as well.

This recipe served 4 people. It is packed full of vegetables, but don't feel you have to stick to the ones I used. Keep the banana paste the same and then go wild with veg, use whatever's in the fridge, experiment with flavour combos, be your own banana curry creator!

Ingredients

300g baby new potatoes

4 medium sized carrots

1 courgette

1 red onion

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

150g tenderstem broccoli

200g beansprouts

For the banana paste

2 bananas (soft)

15g fresh coriander

4 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon ginger paste/ 1 inch piece of fresh ginger

1/4 fresh chilli

2 teaspoons mustard seeds

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon tumeric

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon tamiri

To serve

Lime

Method

1) Dice the baby new potatoes and then parboil in water, until they have softened.

2) Slice all the remaining vegetables thinly. If you have a julienne peeler cut the courgette and carrots julienne.

3) Place the mustard seeds, fennel seeds, coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a pestle and mortar and grind until reasonably fine. Place this and the other remaining spices in a small frying pan and dry fry for a couple of minutes on a low heat until the spices are fragrant.

4) Place all the paste ingredients, including your heated spice mix in a blender and blend until it has a liquid paste consistency.

5) Heat 1 teaspoon of coconut oil (or any other oil suitable for frying) in a large wok. Add the potatoes and onions and stir fry until they begin to brown. Add the broccoli next and fry for another couple of minutes. Then add the peppers, fry for a further couple of minutes before adding the remaining vegetables.

6) Once the vegetables have cooked through and softened add the paste. Continue to stir fry for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and serve with lime.