Broccoli and Pepper Curry

Hello, and welcome to my first recipe post of 2019! I've been a bit quiet on the recipe front because I've been trying to figure some stuff out. Basically I want to take the blog in a slightly different direction, I want it to involve more of my passions and loves. For me that looks like a blog that focuses more on vegan lifestyle than solely vegan food. That doesn't mean the recipe posts will stop all together but they maybe slightly less frequent. Anyway despite all my soul searching I haven't quite worked out how I want all these changes to take shape. I'm also trying to get my head around a new camera, that can do film, so this is a format I'm really interested in playing with. In the mean time I have also been trying to pursue other creative endeavours, I got back into writing poetry, and painting. Doing some creative stuff for myself, without the pressure of feeling like I need to share it on the internet, has reinvigorated my passion for this blog. While this blog means everything to me, I've worked really hard on it, for the last few months it has been feeling like a massive drain on my energy. I've really been close to giving it all up on several occasions. But deep down that's not what I want. I just need to find a way to manage my creativity and my need to chase highs. Hard work isn't all fun and games, and we can't always feel pleased with ourselves, I guess I'm just trying to get used to riding that wave. Anyway other creative outlets have certainly helped, and hopefully diversifying my blog will help just a little more.

So on with the recipe! It's my current favourite curry, and if i'm being honest it's not truly mine. My local Indian takeaway does a dish called Broccoli labadar, and it is mine and Jamie's absolute favourite. Jamie offered to cook for me one evening, and he served me with a broccoli curry inspired by the takeaway's labadar. He had added some peppers, and the curry sauce wasn't an exact match but the broccoli was the shining hero, just like the curry house version. I, then made the curry, adding a few changes to Jamie's original recipe and VOILA!

The secret to getting the broccoli just right is to cook it in the oven and only add it to the curry right at the end. You want the broccoli to be as brown and crispy as possible, It has such an awesome flavour when it's on the verge of being burned to a crisp! Really the broccoli is the star of the show, but following jamie's lead I added peppers too. You could add anything you like really, any left over veggies would go great in this. I've tried sweet potatoes, carrots and chickpeas. Remember all my tips for cheap eating, well curry was up there as a way to eat cheap and tasty! I make a big batch of this curry and it can last me all week. This curry is also fairly simple to prepare. There's no long list of spices. I added fresh curry leaves, if you can't get hold of fresh you could go for dried, or skip them altogether. They add a lil summin summin, but they're not 100% necessary. As with all my spicy recipes, please feel free to change the amount of chilli to suit your tastebuds. I like a bit of heat for sure, but I'm also not the kinda person who dowses their food in hot sauce, so if that's you go ahead and ramp up the heat!

This weekend me and Jamie went to Devon. Long time readers of my blog will know Devon is where I run to whenever I want some headspace, and that there is no phone signal there, so I was on a social media hiatus. It was nice to take a break and step back from the world and I have come back feeling more confident in myself, although I really wish it could have been for a bit longer. I got back late on monday night and my card was stolen in Waterloo station, which was a nice welcome back to my hometown! they didn't manage to steal too much before the bank noticed, but for the moment I am card and penniless.

Talking of Monday's I nearly forgot to tell you, I have started a new story series on Instagram called Mental Health Mondays. I will basically be discussing one topic to do with mental health, each week over there. If you would like to check out this week's you can head to my instagram profile and click on the highlight called mental health. Only I would start a new insta series the week before I am away till a monday, so there isn't one for this week. But you can check out last week's instalment and wait with baited breath for next weeks. Now on with what you're really here for, THE RECIPE!

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

1 large broccoli

2 bell peppers (ideally 1 orange and 1 red)

1 white onion

1/2 a red chilli pepper

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tin of coconut milk

1 bay leaf

a small handful of fresh curry leaves (if you can't find fresh a handful of dried would also do)

2 teaspoons medium curry powder

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Method

1) Cut the broccoli into small florets.

2) Place onto a baking tray and into the oven at 200'c, for 30-40 minutes, until the broccoli is brown and crispy.

3) in a large sauce pan place the curry powder, coriander, cumin and dry fry for a couple of minutes, until fragrant.

4) Thinly slice the onions, chilli and peppers. Add a little oil to the pan along with the onions and chilli, and fry until soft.

5) Add the peppers and fry for another few minutes until the peppers are beginning to brown and soften.

6) Add the chopped tomatoes and coconut milk to the pan. Drop in the bay and curry leaves. Bring the curry to the boil and then reduce the heat and leave to simmer.

7)Allow the curry to simmer for around 25-30 minutes.

8) Once simmered stir in the oven cooked broccoli.

9) Remove from the heat and enjoy, with rice and poppadoms for that real takeaway vibe.