This is what happens when the bin shows up and you’ve been ignoring the fridge all week because you’ve been busy making marmalade. Closely related to the use-up-all-the-left-over-meat-and-cheese quiche is the use-up-all-the -veggies curry. If you’re feeling especially ambitious, you can make your own curry paste, as they do in this recipe. I took the lazy route and just threw in a can of massaman curry paste, and augmented it with some extra ginger, garlic, and thai chilis.

Ingredients (open to interpretation)

-1 onion
-1 tsp grated or finely chopped ginger or galangal
-3 cloves of garlic chopped
-3 thai chilis chopped (leave the seeds in for a hotter curry)
-2 cups coconut milk (either canned, or from soaking desiccated coconut in hot water and straining it)
-1 cauliflower cut into florets
-1 cup green beans cut into 2″ pieces
-2-3 parsnips or carrots, peeled and chopped into 2″ pieces (cut crosswise if the pieces are especially wide)
-3 baby book choy, leaves separated, rinsed and chopped into 2″ pieces.
-2 tbsp oil
-1 4oz can of curry paste (or the equivalent amount of homemade paste)

Method:

1. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat and saute the onion until softened and beginning to brown at the edges (5-8 min)
2. Add curry paste, chilis, garlic, and ginger and stir until fragrant (1-2 min)
3. Add the parsnips and cauliflower and stir to coat with curry paste.
4. Add 1.5 c coconut milk, stir, cover and bring to a simmer. Turn heat down to medium, Cook covered, stirring occasionally for about 30-40 minutes.
5. When the veggies still have a bit of a crunch left (around 25 minutes or so) add the green beans.
6. Cook for another 10-15 min until veggies are cooked through.
7. If the mixture seems dry, add more coconut milk, if it is too watery, remove the lid and let some liquid boil off
8. Finally, add the book choy stems (not the leaves) and cook for 2-5 minutes. At the very end, stir in the leaves (they will wilt immediately). You could also add some basil or cilantro at this point if you have any on hand (I didn’t).

There are 2 secrets to making a curry like this: keeping the liquid at the right level (making sure it doesn’t dry up or become a soup). and knowing how long veggies take to cook.

To keep the liquid at the right level, just start small and add more as needed. If you’re really stuck, add water.

As for veggies, starchy things like potatoes, and crunchy things like carrots go in first, as they can take a while to cook (almost an hour usually). Cauliflower, broccoli and green beens (and other similar things) are in the middle (1/2 hr – 15 min depending on your crunch vs mush preference). Finally, greens and their stems (herbs, bok choy, spinach) will cook in a few minutes, and can be thrown in at the very end.