This recipe is the perfect antidote to all the indulgent festive feasting that you may have enjoyed.
Delicious roasted vegetables with a warmth of ginger and some heat from chillies - great for a cold January evening.
Serves 4
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Ingredients
For the spice paste
4cm fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped
10 garlic cloves, chopped
3 red chillies, halved, deseeded and chopped
1 long shallot, roughly chopped
Seeds from 10 cardamom pods
Sea salt flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
4 teaspoons soft light brown sugar
Juice of 2 limes
100ml extra virgin olive oil, plus more if needed
For the vegetables
8 plum tomatoes
4 medium/large aubergines
900g pumpkin or squash
Coriander leaves, to serve
15g unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted
Natural yoghurt and warmed naan bread, to serve
For the chutney
1 teaspoon ground cumin
50g coriander, any coarse stalks removed
15g mint leaves
25g baby spinach
100g creamed coconut, from a block, crumbled or coarsely grated
1 green chilli, halved, deseeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2.5cm fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped
Finely grated zest of 1 lime
Juice of 3 limes
Sea salt, to taste
1 teaspoon caster sugar, if you want a sweeter version
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 190C (fan).
2. Put everything for the spice paste into a food processor and whizz. Scrape into a bowl but don't clean the food processor yet.
3. Halve the tomatoes and put them in a roasting tin large enough that they can lie in a single layer. Spoon some of the spice paste on top of each, then turn them to make sure they get well coated all over, arranging them so they're all cut side up.
4. Halve the aubergines lengthways and cut a cross-hatched pattern in the flesh side, without cutting all the way through (this helps the heat penetrate). Put them in a large roasting tin which is large enough to fit in the pumpkin too as a single layer. Rub the aubergines with half the remaining spice paste, ending cut side up.
5. Roast both the tomatoes and aubergines for 20 minutes.
6. Deseed the pumpkin and cut into slices about 2.5cm thick at their thickest part, there is no need to peel them as the skin softens while they're in the oven. Rub over the rest of the spice paste. If the mixture doesn't go quite far enough, add a little more olive oil.
7. Add the pumpkin slices to the aubergine tin and return it to the oven to roast for 20 minutes, turning the pumpkin slices over halfway through.
8. After 20 minutes, the vegetables should be ready, tender and golden, but keep an eye on the tomatoes so they don't overcook (they may only take 30 minutes cooking time so check on them when you turn the pumpkin slices). The tomatoes should still hold their shape, not completely collapse.
9. To make the chutney, put all the ingredients (minus the sugar) in the food processor and pour in 100ml water. Whizz. If you want the chutney to be a little sweet, add the sugar. Taste for seasoning and sharpness, then scrape into a bowl.
10. Put all the vegetables on a warmed platter and scatter over the coriander leaves and toasted coconut.
11. Serve with the chutney and a bowl of yoghurt along with the warmed naan bread.
