Tomato and Coconut Curry

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon grapeseed or vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• 10 curry leaves
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated
• 5 cm fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
• 2 green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• pinch of turmeric
• pinch of ground coriander
• 4 cardamom pods
• 4 cloves (optional)
• 1 x 400g tin coconut milk
• 20 g palm sugar, grated
• 3 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves
• 800 g fresh tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped
• 1 tablespoons Thai basil, chopped (optional)
• salt and pepper

Method

Heat the oil in a large saucepan or wok, add the mustard and cumin seeds and let them pop for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and add the curry leaves, garlic, ginger and chillies. Return to the heat and cook for a few seconds, taking care not to burn the garlic, then add the onion and cook until softened.

Add the turmeric, coriander, cardamom and cloves and cook for a further minute. Add the coconut milk, palm sugar and fenugreek leaves and simmer for 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and simmer for a further 5 minutes, adding a little water if too thick. Stir in the herbs, season and then serve with rice or lentils and poppadoms.