The next morning after a suitably fortifying breakfast and a walk round the picturesque grounds of the hotel we went our separate ways; variously to do Christmas shopping and have a haircut and much needed rest. When I returned home I had a short rest and then thoughts turned to a making a meal to revitalise me. As I my circumstances have changed recently I have begun to split my weekends between my hometown and the West Yorkshire town of Huddersfield. One of this town's many qualities is that it has a good number of curry houses and therefore the evening's meal was one I wanted to remind me of those places. As those I was cooking for were vegetarians no meat was allowed and although the best curries in my opinion need to contain meat I found a decent compromise in a Kale and Green Lentil Curry.
As darkness began to fall and flocks of gulls wafted south over the house on the late afternoon breezes I began preparing the food. The album I listened to Jethro Tull's was underrated 1982 offering Broadsword and the Beast. It was unfairly criticised by reviewers on its release for its over reliance on synthesisers but this is unfair as the synth work is atmospheric and fits well into the band's overall sound. The album also shows a willingness for the band to evolve from earlier records; a hallmark of all the great bands. The version of the record I chose to listen contains the original album which includes the defiant title track, the frosty, claustrophobic "Clasp" and the hard-rocking "Seal Driver". It also has a number of excellent bonus tracks including the festive "Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow" and the bouncy, earnest "I am your gun".
There are really two parallel approaches to preparing curries that ultimately converge into one; the first is the cooking of the main ingredients, the second is making the curry paste and the final part is combining the main ingredients and the curry paste. I first placed around two hundred and fifty grams of green lentils in a pan of water with a teaspoon of powdered Turmeric. I put the pan on the hob, brought it to boil and let the lentils and Turmeric boil for twenty minutes.
While the lentils and Turmeric boiled I sliced up around twenty green beans into small pieces and topped and tailed a carrot before peeling it and dicing it. After the lentils had been boiling for the requisite time I added the carrots and green beans to the boiling pan with one hundred and twenty five grams of pre-washed Kale, half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper and two teaspoons of coriander. I left these items to boil with the rest of the contents of the pan for another twenty five minutes.
Next I prepared the other part of the curry; that is the curry paste. I took two shallots and three cloves of garlic and cut them up finely. I put them in a Le Cresceut on the hob and fried them with some olive oil on a medium heat for around five minutes with a teaspoon of cumin and one of coriander. I find that the tastiest curry pastes are those where the fresh ingredients are combined with the spices early on in preparation. Next I added two tablespoons of tomato passatta and stirred them hard into the garlic, shallots and herbs. I turned the hob down to the lowest light possible while I waited for the ingredients in the pan to boil for a sufficient time.
Once the contents had boiled enough I poured them into the Le Cresceut with the curry paste and then combined the ingredients. After it all had been heated through it was ready to serve with some white rice I had boiled up. Despite the lack of meat the curry still had plenty of strength and taste with the Kale adding a robustness to the dish the combined well with the varied spices.
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| All the ingredients in the Le Cresceut warming through |
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| Ready to eat with a side order of rice |
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