Recipe: Butter Beans Shaak (curry) within 15 minutes

This Shaak is simple, filling and quick to make. It involves minimal preparation and tastes delicious.

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients for butter beans Shaak

•    1 (240g) can of butter beans or use dried butter beans which would need to be soaked for 12 hours, the water drained and then boiled in fresh water
•    2 tomatoes - blended
•    1 fresh chilli – blended
•    3/4 of a tablespoon of sunflower oil or olive oil
•    1/2 a teaspoon of mustard seeds
•    1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
•    2 sweet neem leaves
•    1 pinch of asafetida
•    1 pinch of turmeric powder
•    salt to taste
•    1 teaspoon of dried coriander powder
•    1 handful of freshly chopped coriander
•    6 wholemeal mini wraps

How to make butter beans Shaak

1.    Heat the oil in a pan and then add the mustard seeds, cumin, sweet neem leaves and asafetida
2.    After the seeds have popped add the tomatoes and chilli
3.    After a 2 minutes, add the butter beans, turmeric powder, salt and dried coriander powder
4.    After 3 minutes add the chopped coriander, stir and let it cook for 5 - 7 minutes
5.    Fold each mini wraps in half and serve the butter beans alongside it

We enjoyed this with mini wraps. It can also be eaten with rice or Rotli.

Recipe: Sweetcorn Shaak (curry) and rice within 30 minutes

This is one of my favourite dishes.
It doesn't take long to make and it's full of flavour and texture.

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients for sweetcorn Shaak

•    1/2 a tablespoon of coconut oil
•    2 tomatoes – diced
•    1 fresh chilli – finely chopped
•    1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
•    1/2 a teaspoon of mustard seeds
•    2 sweet neem leaves
•    a pinch of asafetida
•    sweetcorn - frozen or a 340g tin
•    1 teaspoon of dried coriander powder
•    less than 1/4 of a teaspoon of turmeric
•    salt to taste
•    a tablespoon of lemon juice
•    1 handful of freshly chopped coriander
•    a handful of raw red skin peanut kernels  – about 30g

Ingredients for the rice 

•    a small teacup of brown rice
•    2 & 3/4 teacups of fresh water

How to make the Shaak

1.    Heat the oil in a pan, and add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, sweet neem leaves and asafetida when it’s hot
2.    Put the lid on and wait until the seeds begin to pop
3.    When the silence in between pops is longer, add raw peanuts, chilli and tomatoes and put the lid back on the pan – don’t be alarmed if it sizzles
4.    After a 2 minutes add the sweetcorn, salt, dried coriander powder and turmeric
5.    Taste it after it’s cooked for another 5 minutes and add the lemon juice if desired
6.    Finally, garnish with freshly chopped coriander 

How to make the rice

1.    Wash the rice, drain the water and put the rice in a pan
2.    Add 2 & 3/4 teacups of fresh water and leave it to cook on a high heat, keeping the lid off the pan
3.    When it begins to froth, place the lid on the pan, reduce the heat to its lowest setting and leave it for 20 minutes
4.    Keeping the lid on the pan, tilt the pan with the rice in it, to see if there's any water left in it - if there's a little left, cook it for another 5 minutes, otherwise turn it off

To serve, spread the rice across the plate to create a circle with a hole in the middle, where you can put the sweetcorn and enjoy

Serving suggestion

Put the rice in a bowl/cup and then tip it upside down on the plate, to create a mound of rice.
Place the mound on one side of the plate or in the centre and place the sweetcorn around it.
A variation
To mix it up a bit, add 1 teaspoon of desiccated coconut to the sweetcorn, 5 minutes before serving it. 

Recipe: Savoury Tomatoes with Cous Cous within 15 minutes

This is a quick, healthy and light meal which is full of flavour.

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients for the savoury tomatoes

•    8 tomatoes – chopped into small pieces
•    1 finger chilli – finely chopped – reduce or increase the amount of chilli you use depending on how hot this particular chilli is, whilst considering your love of spice
•    1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds
•    1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
•    1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil
•    salt to taste
•    1 pinch of turmeric
•    2/3 teaspoon of ground coriander powder
•    1 handful of freshly chopped coriander

How to make the savoury tomatoes

1.    Put the coconut oil in a pan
2.    When it warms up, add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds and put the lid on the pan
3.    When the seeds begin to pop, add the chillies and cover the pan again
4.    After 15 seconds, add the tomatoes, salt, turmeric and ground coriander powder
5.    Let it cook for 7 minutes
6.    When the tomatoes are as soft as you'd like, add the fresh coriander – I usually do this after 5 minutes

Ingredients for the cous cous

•    1/2 a cup (125ml) of cous cous
•    1 cube of vegan stock
•    1 tablespoon of olive oil
•    water
•    freshly ground salt
•    freshly ground pepper

How to make for the cous cous

1.    Boil the kettle
2.    Put the cous cous in a bowl
3.    Crumble the stock on the cous cous ensuring there are no lumps and mix
4.    Drizzle the olive oil on it
5.    Add water so that the level of water reaches about 1cm above the cous cous
6.    Add freshly ground salt and pepper
7.    Stir a little
8.    Cover the bowl with a plate and leave it for 3 minutes
9.    The cous cous will be ready when the water has been absorbed completely
10.    Put the cous cous in a little bowl and turn it upside down to create a mound of cous cous and serve the tomatoes alongside it 

Serving suggestion

Suraj put the cous cous in a little bowl and then turned it upside down to present the cous cous as shown in the photo