Courgette and white bean curry

Name: Courgette and white bean curry
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 5tbsp rapeseed oil; 20 fresh curry leaves or frozen ones; 2tsp cumin seeds; 1tsp black mustard seeds; 1 medium brown onion peeled and finely diced; 4 garlic cloves peeled and sliced paper-thin; 2 green finger chillies stalks discarded, flesh sliced lengthways; 500g courgettes halved lengthwise and cut into irregular pieces; 1tsp ground turmeric; 1.5tsp fine sea salt; 0.25tsp coarsely ground black pepper; 800g tinned coconut milk (ie, 2 standard tins); 800g tinned cannellini beans (ie, 2 standard tins), drained and rinsed; 40g fresh coriander leaves and tender stems, sliced; 0.5 lemon juiced, or to taste; Steamed basmati rice to serve

Instructions

Prep:15minCook:15min

If you’ve ever had Sri Lankan “rice and curry” for lunch, you’ll know the term is a misnomer. It’s not just one curry, but at least three and up to five that are served for lunch every day. How, you might wonder, is it possible to cook so many things in time for lunch? One of the answers is that Sri Lankan vegetable curries are fast and furious. Ingredients hit thin, metal saucepans in quick succession and are brought up to a Vesuvius-level boil, only to come out tasting surprisingly heavenly and delicate about 15 minutes later. The courgette is the perfect vegetable for such treatment: it’s tender, fresh and in need of a little spicing-up

Updated at: Thu, 20 Mar 2025 14:20:25 GMT