Photo: dichohecho / Flickr

Not all curries take an age to prepare and cook. Ready-made home blends or commercial curry pastes and powders can make for even quicker cooking. This spinach and sweet potato curry takes 10 minutes to prepare and less than half an hour to cook. Besides spinach and sweet potato, you will need some groundnut oil, onion, garlic, shrimp paste, turmeric, red chilli, coconut milk and salt to taste. You can serve this colourful dish with naan bread, rice or chapati.

Ingredients

You will need the following ingredients for four servings: 500 grams of peeled sweet potato, 3 tablespoons of groundnut oil, 1 peeled red onion, 2 peeled garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon of shrimp paste, 1 teaspoon of turmeric, 1 seeded fresh red chilli (large), 400 ml of coconut milk, 270 grams of young spinach leaves. You will require some salt to taste.

Preparation

Chop the sweet potato into large chunks, chop the onion and crush the garlic cloves. Finely chop the chilli and wash the spinach leaves. Place the potato pieces into salted boiling water and cook them for about 10 minutes until they are soft. Drain them and set aside.

Prepare to cook the other ingredients by heating the oil in a pan on a gentle heat. Stir in the garlic, onion, turmeric and shrimp paste. Fry for three minutes, stirring all the time. Add the chopped chilli and stir for another two minutes. Pour in the coconut milk, stir and allow the mixture to simmer for four minutes.

When the coconut milk has thickened, stir in the cooked sweet potatoes. Add salt to taste and cook the mixture for another four minutes. Add the spinach leaves, stir and allow the curry to simmer for three minutes. Keep the lid on the pan during this time and cook on a low heat.

Serve

Once the spinach leaves have wilted and the ingredients have heated through, check the seasoning and then remove the pan from the stove. Spoon the spinach and potato curry into a warm serving bowl and serve with rice or naan bread.

Tags: cooking, food, recipes