Curried vegetables!

If you feel like spicy vegetables, or if you feel like curry without meat, try this quick cooking meal which was adapted from a British foodie magazine. Who would have made out the Brits as curry lovers! The key to cooking a few vegetables together in one curry is to start cooking the firmer vegetables (those that would take longer to cook) first, and add vegetables that require least cooking last.

Potato, one large, diced in half inch cubes
Butternut squash, small, peeled and cubed
Melongene, small one, cubed
Curry powder, 2 tablespoons
(Geera, half teaspoon whole seeds - optional)

Olive oil, 3 tablespoons
Onions, 2, sliced
Tomato paste, half cup
Coconut milk, half cup (or three tablespoons powdered in half cup water)
Ginger, thumb sized piece, crushed and sliced
Garlic, one clove crushed

Red sweet peppers, two, sliced
Zucchini, one large or two small (preferably smaller ones), sliced

Flat bread (recipe follows)

Mix potato with one tablespoon curry powder. Mix squash and melongene with one tablespoon curry in a separate bowl.
(Put geera seeds in pot and heat until fragrant.)
Add tablespoon olive oil and raise heat, Add potato and fry lightly for 10-12 minutes.Add squash and melongene and continue cooking for 5- 10 more minutes.
Turn so vegetables do not stick. Sprinkle with a little salt, add garlic and ginger, and simmer.

Heat rest of oil in a pot and and fry onions until soft and browned. Add tomato paste, coconut milk and half cup water.
Simmer for a few minutes. Add potato, melongene and squash, together with sweet peppers and zucchini.
Simmer altogether for 10 minutes until vegetables are tender but not mushy.

Serve hot with flat bread.
Optional:  pepper sauce or hot pepper

This curry features melongene and chick peas, with broccoli steamed separately then tossed in at the end.

Anjani's curry plate features curried melongene, potato and squash; tomato choka (on left) and curried chicken  (at top).

FLAT BREAD
(You can make this in advance and keep warm covered in tea towel; or re-heat quickly in microwave.)

Wholewheat flour, one cup +
White flour, one cup +
Greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons (or plain yogurt)
Water
Oil, 2 tablespoons

Mix flour and yogurt with a little (tablespoon or less...) water to make a dough. Knead until smooth.
Add oil a little at a time if it is sticky.
Rest for 15 minutes.

Heat fry pan. Divide dough into 10-12 balls and cover.
Dust each ball with flour and roll out as thin as possible (you can use a glass bottle as a rolling pin.)
Cook (like pancakes) in lightly greased pan for a few minutes until bumps or airbubbles form.
Turn over and cook second side.
Use a kitchen towel to press the edges of the bread so that they puff up in the middle.
Keep covered as you make the rest.

Serve the flat bread with the veg curry!