It was twenty minutes before the roast chicken was supposed to emerge from the oven. But I wanted to have a vegetable dish of some sort ready at the same time. A quick look in the fridge spots a bunch of young swiss chard leaves, there were small potatoes in the larder and I knew we had some canned coconut milk in the pantry. So here goes, loosely based on a much healthier recipe of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, I added some canola oil to an enameled cast iron pot and sautéed a medium sliced white onion, sliced. Next, I smashed up one finger chili (siling mahaba) and one siling labuyo a thumb sized piece of ginger and some garlic with a mortar and pestle and added that to the onions until they were a light golden color and very aromatic.
Next, I added a tablespoon of curry powder and stirred for a few seconds. Add say 2 cups or so of washed and halved new potatoes, skins on. Add two cups of water, one can of coconut cream, and a tablespoon or two of tomato paste and let this come to a simmer and cover the pot and let this cook for some 8-10 minutes, until the potatoes are nearly cooked through (I used very small potatoes, so this took about 8 minutes). You may have to leave pot uncovered for last 3-4 minute of cooking to thicken the sauce. Season generously with salt and pepper. And I mean generously. Chop up the chard, add to the curry and let this cook 1-2 minutes until wilted. Add say 8-10 cilantro leaves to the curry.
Meanwhile, toast some cashew nuts and have a bit more coriander on hand for garnishing. Taste the curry and adjust seasonings as necessary. Place the curry in a serving bowl, and garnish with cilantro leaves and cashew nuts. Slam-dunk-less-than-20-minute dish! Delicious. Probably not the healthiest due to the coconut milk (the original recipe used yoghurt), but we ate a WHOLE LOT of CHARD as a result.
6 Responses
Just a little correction on ailing mahaba, should be silling mahaba. Coconut milk and curry paired is delicious even with just rice.Would love to see this kind of dishes on local restaurants, menus tend to be meat heavy.
no, no, MM,..coconut milk is now touted as healthy!
This indeed looks easy and healthy. I will try it soon with whatever greens and potatoes I have on hand. Will sweet potatoes fare as well?
Reggie, not sure if sweet potatoes will hold up as well as potatoes, but maybe just watch the cooking time carefully. millet, yup, but it’s still high calorie which is bad for the bulbil. And Zerho, my apologies, it’s that darned auto-correct measure. It’s the reason “bilbil” in the previous sentence shows up as bulbil… Hahaha. Will edit now.
Oh so delicious! Green, leafy vegetables with gata!
This is indeed a very nice and healthy food recipe idea to serve to each and everyone. Thank you!