California Courgette Curry
This recipe is a sneak preview of over 80 other easy to cook, scrummy recipes from my cookbook, Urban Rajah's Curry Memoirs . This easy to cook, quick to eat courgette curry recipe will leave you yearning for more, so indulge your appetite and order a copy now.
Skitting through my week’s activities, the Maharani exclaimed “busy, busy.”
“Who isn’t?” I replied, quick as a flash she responded, “Well Leon Jackson hasn’t been busy since winning X–Factor 2007, I haven’t heard from him in ages” she mocks, as is if personally injured by a friend.
It seems as if everyone is a proverbial plate spinner these days and the trend starts at an early age, take for example our Baltic friends whose four year old is speaking Russian, Spanish, learning Mandarin and can recite the words from 'I’m the King of the Jungle' in a lexicon of languages. He’s probably reading Kafka and trialling for his pre-school first XI.
Busy is probably the most defining description for humanity and it’s not a recent phenomenon. At the wisdom ripening age of forty something my father found himself in the familiar position of being in a foreign land and forging life as an immigrant in ‘the land of the free and the brave’ across the pond in San Francisco. He juggled his waking hours between three jobs, which meant food had to be quick, nutritious, delicious and affordable.
He developed a knack for creating heavenly treasures from humble ingredients often at warp speed. This dish of perfectly spiced courgette curry (zucchini: US English) is the perfect representation of his efforts. Using simple spices he’s managed to transform vegetables into cleansing sabzi curries which he polished off between shifts.
In homage to the birthplace of this dish I’ve named it Frisco Zucchini, but it’s really a courgette sabzi or courgette curry (if you prefer alliteration). It’s a fridge to table vegetarian curry in fifteen minutes, perfect for plate spinners, busy bees or quite simply you and me.
Serves 2 as a main or as a side to Fenugreek Chicken or Blistered Baingan
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- 1/3 tsp fennel seeds
- ½ onion, sliced
- 2 x courgettes, chopped into batons (2cm thick x 6cm long)
- 1 garlic clove, sliced
- 1.5 cm fresh ginger, sliced
- Asafoetida, pinch
- Salt
- Pepper
- Olive oil (preferably extra virgin)
Heat the oil over a medium to high setting and drop in the mustard seeds, allow them to fizz and pop, add the cumin and fennel seeds and push around the pan for 30 seconds or so until they give in and submit their scent. Introduce the sliced onion and combine all the ingredients until the onion is coated in the whole spices and turning a buttery colour. Pop in the garlic and ginger stirring for about a minute and then add in the courgettes, generously dressing all the ingredients until they’re all over each other like amorous teenagers, cook for about 2-3 minutes. Now it’s time to pitch in a pinch of asafoetida (which stinks at first but amazingly becomes mellow and smooth). Cook for a further 10-12 minutes until the courgettes have become tender but not soggy. Serve hot straight from the pan.
California Courgette Curry
This recipe is a sneak preview of over 80 other easy to cook, scrummy recipes from my cookbook, Urban Rajah's Curry Memoirs . This easy to cook, quick to eat courgette curry recipe will leave you yearning for more, so indulge your appetite and order a copy now.
Skitting through my week’s activities, the Maharani exclaimed “busy, busy.”
“Who isn’t?” I replied, quick as a flash she responded, “Well Leon Jackson hasn’t been busy since winning X–Factor 2007, I haven’t heard from him in ages” she mocks, as is if personally injured by a friend.
It seems as if everyone is a proverbial plate spinner these days and the trend starts at an early age, take for example our Baltic friends whose four year old is speaking Russian, Spanish, learning Mandarin and can recite the words from 'I’m the King of the Jungle' in a lexicon of languages. He’s probably reading Kafka and trialling for his pre-school first XI.
Busy is probably the most defining description for humanity and it’s not a recent phenomenon. At the wisdom ripening age of forty something my father found himself in the familiar position of being in a foreign land and forging life as an immigrant in ‘the land of the free and the brave’ across the pond in San Francisco. He juggled his waking hours between three jobs, which meant food had to be quick, nutritious, delicious and affordable.
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