A little more ‘smug’ food for you this evening. You know it’s my favourite kind… delicious and filling but oh so healthy, you simply can’t help but feel a little smug after you polish off a plateful.

You see, only good things can come from this…According to the latest copy of the Sainsburys magazine nothing says early summer quite like peas.

That may be, but if you ask me, nothing says ‘my children will eat this’ like a recipe full of those delightful greendrops (a Charlie & Lola reference no doubt lost on anyone who doesn’t have small children).

This dish has plenty and, apart from a small collection of green pepper on the side of each of their plates (well, in Jesse case on the floor under his highchair), the children devoured all the vegetables in this. Thank you gods of curry, you have the power to make my children eat anything.
You will need:
2 tsp sunflower oil
1 heaped tsp mustard seeds
2 large or 3 small onions, thinly sliced
2 thumb sized pieces of root ginger, grated
1 red chilli, finely chopped (I use less than this to make it palatable for the children)
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
4 ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
2 green peppers, cut into large chunks
400g frozen peas
Butternut squash, peeled and chopped (I used about half of the one pictured above)
1 400ml tin coconut milk
1 heaped tablespoon creamed coconut
salt (although I omit this because of the children)

1. Heat the oil in a wide-based pan over a medium heat and tip in the mustard seeds… let them shuffle and pop.

2. Add the onions, ginger, chilli, cumin, turmeric and some salt and cook for a good 10 minutes until the onion is soft.

3. Add the tomatoes, peppers, butternut squash and coconut milk and simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Tip in the peas and cook until they are soft – 5 or 10 minutes at the most.

5. Turn off the heat and crumble the creamed coconut over the top. The curry might also benefit from a squeeze of lime (I keep ‘plastic’ lime in the fridge. It’s just like your trusty jif lemon and can usually be found right next to it in the baking section at the supermarket).

That’s it! I served this with rice and naan bread for dinner but it was also lovely reheated the following day and stuffed inside a warmed wholemeal pitta for lunch.

You know, Izzy regularly tells me she loves me more than peas. High praise indeed.

Recipe adapted from the first Leon recipe book which I highly recommend.

Loveaudrey xxx