If you’ve ever had Sri Lankan “rice and curry” for lunch, you’ll know the term is a misnomer. It’s not just one curry, but at least three and up to five that are served for lunch every day. How, you might wonder, is it possible to cook so many things in time for lunch? One of the answers is that Sri Lankan vegetable curries are fast and furious. Ingredients hit thin, metal saucepans in quick succession and are brought up to a Vesuvius-level boil, only to come out tasting surprisingly heavenly and delicate about 15 minutes later. The courgette is the perfect vegetable for such treatment: it’s tender , fresh and in need of a little spicing up.
Courgette and white bean curry
The fresh curry leaves add a lot here – you can get them in some big supermarkets, specialist south Asian food shops and online. If you have any curry leaves and green chillies left over, bag and freeze them for next time.
Prep 15 min
Cook 15 min
Serves 4
5 tbsp rapeseed oil
20 fresh curry leaves, or frozen ones
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 medium brown onion, peeled and finely diced
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced paper-thin
2 green finger chillies, stalks discarded, flesh sliced lengthways
500g courgettes, halved lengthwise and cut into irregular pieces
1 tsp ground turmeric
1½ tsp fine sea salt
¼ tsp coarsely ground black pepper
800g tinned coconut milk (ie, 2 standard tins)
800g tinned cannellini beans (ie, 2 standard tins), drained and rinsed
40g fresh coriander, leaves and tender stems, sliced
Juice of ½ lemon, or to taste
Steamed basmati rice, to serve
Put the oil in a pan on the biggest burner and on the highest heat. When it’s very hot, add the curry leaves, cumin and mustard seeds, stir, then follow swiftly with the onion, garlic, chillies and courgettes. Leave to cook for two minutes, to get some char on the courgettes, stir again, then leave to cook for another two minutes. Add the turmeric, salt and pepper, and leave to cook and catch for a further four minutes.
Tip in the coconut milk and the beans, and cook, still on a fast boil, for another five minutes, until the courgettes are tender and moving towards soft. Stir in the coriander, then add the lemon juice teaspoon by teaspoon until the curry sauce tastes just right to you.
Serve at once with steamed basmati rice.
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