I find the flavours and cooking of southern India and Sri Lanka intoxicating, with their use of fresh coconut and inspired spicing. It’s a cuisine so full of depth and flavour that it’s easy to feast on endless vegetable curries without really noticing that you’re not eating meat. These curries are much faster to cook than the slow-cooked meat dishes of the north, but they’re just as satisfying. Farther east, the Japanese have a light touch with rice and seafood, and frown on dairy, so here, too, you can eat incredibly healthily without missing out on taste. Much as I love butter and cream, or the comfort of a hearty stew, it’s a treat to try these different styles, especially as warmer weather starts to beckon.
Sri Lankan-style cauliflower curry
Use mild chillies instead of birds’ eye, and this becomes beautifully gentle and suitable for the entire family, even the littlest ones. As Yotam said in these pages a few weeks ago, it is absolutely worth seeking out fresh curry leaves: buy them in bulk and freeze for other recipes. Serves six.
2 large cauliflowers, ideally with crisp, fresh outer leaves
4 tbsp rapeseed or vegetable oil
1 tin coconut milk
1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed
6cm knob fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 green birds’ eye chillies, finely chopped (or mild green chillies)
30 fresh curry leaves
1 tbsp fennel seeds
Seeds from 3 cardamom pods
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp fish sauce (optional)
2 heaped tsp tamarind paste
12 cherry tomatoes
1 large handful roasted cashew nuts, roughly chopped
Cut the leaves from the cauliflowers and set aside. Cut three thick “steaks” from the centre of each cauliflower, and break the rest into florets, keeping the stalks. Rub the slices, stalks, florets and leaves in oil, just enough lightly to coat them. Arrange the leaves, stalks and florets in a single layer in an oven tray and the slices in a second tray, then season sparingly.
Scoop two heaped tablespoons of the coconut solids from the tin of coconut milk into a wok, and fry on medium-high heat for 10 minutes, until the oils separate and the solids start turning golden. Turn down the heat, stir in the garlic, ginger, half the chilli and 10 curry leaves, and fry gently, stirring, for five minutes.
Roughly crush the fennel and cardamom seeds in a mortar and add to the wok with the turmeric, fish sauce, tamarind, tomatoes and the rest of the tin of coconut milk. Add 100ml water and leave to simmer on a low heat for 20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.
Meanwhile, heat the grill to high and grill the tray of cauliflower leaves, stalks and florets for six to seven minutes, until slightly charred at the edges but retaining some bite, then tip into the curry sauce. Grill the cauliflower slices for 15 to 20 minutes, turning them halfway, until tender and lightly blackened. In a separate pan, fry the remaining curry leaves in the rest of the oil for three or four minutes, until crisp.
Divide the curry into six shallow bowls, and top each with a grilled cauliflower slice, some cashews and a scattering of fried curry leaves. Put the leftover chilli in a little bowl, for those who want an extra kick.
Miso and soy salmon sticky rice bowl with crisp kale
This is so easy and simple that I always wonder why I don’t cook it more often. Buy the best quality salmon you can afford. Serves four.
4 salmon fillets (organic or wild, ideally)
400g sushi rice
2 tbsp rice vinegar
Sea salt
1 tbsp sugar
200g kale
1 tbsp coconut (or vegetable) oil
For the marinade
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp sesame oil
½ tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp red miso
1 tsp chilli flakes
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. In a shallow bowl, whisk together all the marinade ingredients until well combined, then lay in the fish fillets, turn to coat all over, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Put the rice into a pan with 600ml water and the rice vinegar, season with sea salt and a pinch of sugar, cover and bring to a boil. Immediately turn down the heat to its lowest setting and leave the rice to steam for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat, and keep somewhere warm, still covered.
While the rice is cooking, remove the kale stems (save them to use in a vegetable soup, say) and finely shred the leaves. Lay out the leaves on one or two baking sheets (you want them spread out, not piled on top of each other) and rub with the coconut oil, to coat. Sprinkle on the sugar and a pinch of salt, and bake for seven to eight minutes, until dark green and crisp, stirring halfway through, so they cook evenly. Watch the kale like a hawk towards the end, so it doesn’t catch and burn.
To cook the fish, pop the marinated fillets on an oven tray and roast for 12-15 minutes, basting with more marinade halfway through.
To serve, taste the rice: you may prefer it sprinkled with a touch more vinegar. Divide between four bowls, then top each serving with a fillet of salmon, any leftover marinade juices from the tray and the crisp kale. Serve with soy sauce, more vinegar and perhaps some chilli oil.
And for the rest of the week…
The curry base also works well with chicken or pork neck, so try that, too. Marinate and cook more salmon than you need for the rice bowl, because it makes a lovely cold lunch the next day; it’s easy to pack as well. My children adore the kale crisps, so make extra and use them to top stir-fries or rice dishes: we often have them with a simple family favourite of sticky rice, steamed spinach and a fried egg, plus chilli oil for the grownups.
