Last week was national curry week, so here's a recipe in honour of that. My mum used to make something similar, think hers was one of Madhur's recipes, but I think this might be even nicer...shh...don't tell her ;-)

I made this last week and put some in the freezer too. It was really nice and once I'd tweaked the amounts of spices and mistakenly put a stick of cinnamon in, not just a bit of one, it was really lovely. The cinnamon might be too much for some so if it's not your thing, hlaf a small stick would do. Don't miss out the curry leaves if you can help it, they really do add something.

Enjoy!

Black Eyed Bean & Mushroom Curry

Ingredients
2 x 410g/14oz tins of black-eye beans
About 4 open field mushrooms or 8 smaller chestnut/ closed cap
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 small stick of cinnamon
1⁄4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp chilli flakes
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
10 fresh curry leaves, or dried if not available
1 medium red onion, chopped finely
5cm/2in piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
400ml water
150 ml coconut milk
2 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped to garnish/ finish

Method

Put the cumin, coriander, fennel and fenugreek seeds with the cinnamon stick into a frying pan. Roast stirring frequently until the spices change colour and you start to smell them.

Grind the roasted spices into a fine powder in a coffee grinder, and add chilli flakes.

Heat the oil. When hot, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Remove the pan from heat straight away and let the seeds and leaves crackle and pop.

Then, put the pan back on the heat, add the onion, the ginger and the garlic, and cook for 3-4 mins..

Drain and rinse the beans. Add to pan with he ground spice mixture, salt, and water, and bring to the boil.

Turn the heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Stir in coconut milk and cook for further 3-4 mins

Sprinkle with the with coriander and stir in a little.

Serve with rice and mango chutney and more sprigs of coriander.