35 mins
Not Too Tricky
serves 4
About the recipe
Taking inspiration from lots of different cuisines, I’ve packed this autumnal curry with layers of caramelly, smokey, sweet and fragrant flavours, and made mighty mushrooms the hero! Don’t be shy to use lots of different varieties of mushrooms here – the beauty of this dish is embracing all their weird and wonderful shapes and sizes. This will warm your soul.
Ingredients
olive oil
400g mixed mushrooms, such as oyster, shiitake, button, lion’s mane, chestnut
1 mug of basmati rice (300g)
5cm piece of fresh ginger
1 onion
2 fresh red chillies
4 cloves of garlic
2 sticks of lemongrass
250g mixed-colour cherry tomatoes
8 lime leaves
1 tablespoon runny honey
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon medium curry powder
2 tablespoons desiccated coconut
1 x 400g tin light coconut milk
2 tablespoons low-salt soy sauce
50g cashew nuts
a few sprigs of fresh coriander
1 lime
Top Tip
Did you know you can grow your own lemongrass using shop-bought stalks? Place lemongrass (make sure the stem base hasn’t been trimmed off already) in a glass of water on a sunny windowsill and wait for the roots to grow, then plant them out in your garden or a pot on your balcony.
Method
- Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil into the base of a cold large non-stick frying pan, then season generously with sea salt and black pepper. Halve or quarter the mushrooms, leaving some whole so you get a mix of sizes, then arrange in the pan in an even layer.
- Place a large plate or a lid that’s smaller than the pan directly onto the mushrooms – the weight will help to release the mushrooms’ moisture, steaming them in the pan, while getting nice and crispy underneath. Place on a medium heat and cook for 15 minutes without stirring them, checking occasionally to make sure they don’t burn.
- Place the rice and 2 mugs (600ml) of boiling kettle water in a medium non-stick saucepan. Carefully peel the ginger with a knife and add the trimmings to the pan (this will subtly flavour the rice), season with salt, then cook with the lid on for 12 minutes, or until the rice is tender and all the water has been absorbed – don’t be tempted to stir it.
- Peel and cut the onion into chunky 1cm-thick rounds. Trim, deseed and halve the chillies lengthways, then peel the garlic cloves, leaving them whole. Trim and finely chop the lemongrass, then cut the peeled ginger into thick slices.
- Remove the mushrooms to a board, wipe the pan and return to a medium heat. Dry fry the onion rounds, chilli, garlic and ginger for 10 minutes, or until charred and fragrant, adding the whole tomatoes, lime leaves and lemongrass halfway.
- Check on your rice – once you can’t see any water on the bottom of the pan, turn the heat up to medium-high and cook with the lid off for 5 minutes, or until golden and crisp on the bottom (you’ll hear it crackling).
- Add the honey, balsamic and curry powder to the charred veg, and cook for another minute, or until glossy, stirring often. Transfer to a blender with the desiccated coconut, coconut milk (keep the empty tin for now) and soy sauce, blitz until smooth, then return to the frying pan with most of the cashew nuts, reserving a few for later, and season to perfection with salt.
- Roughly chop half the mushrooms, leaving the rest as they are, then stir into the sauce. Pick over the coriander leaves, sprinkle the reserved cashews on top and swirl over any remaining coconut milk from the tin. Tip out the rice onto a serving plate, finely grate over a little lime zest, then bring everything to the table, with lime wedges for squeezing over.
Adapted from Everyday Super Food by Jamie Oliver. Published by Penguin Random House ⓒ Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited (2015, Everyday Super Food).
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