Substitutions: Well, this is supposed to be made with Swiss chard but spinach is a Hugh-approved variant. And I could only find spinach in Tesco, so spinach it was. Also, I cracked out the 1 Cal spray as usual, this curry was an oil-free zone.
Omissions: Mustard seeds. Didn't have em, wasn't about to buy em for the sake of a quarter teaspoon.
Rating: 6
I just don't know what to make of this curry. It started out in the usual way, you know the one, that challenges all four corners of your spice rack and has you pounding together fresh grated ginger, chilli and garlic until you think "This is a MAGIC POTION! With this concoction I can make FIRE!"
When you eat it, you wonder whether a tablespoon of Lidl curry powder wouldn't have tasted identical--but I am still pounding the garlic, and then I'm adding water and potatoes and eventually watching several mountains of spinach wilt into mulch.
So far, so currylike. Then I have to stir tomato puree into a pot of yogurt and mix it into the pan with the veg. It is PINK. The photograph in the book did *not* prepare me for this. I haven't cooked many curries and I couldn't say whether this is common practice, but whatever way you look at it, what we have here is potatoes and spinach in marie-rose sauce, and that is WEIRD.
I conceal the marie-rose sauce with a scattering of coriander and serve it to the boy, who proclaimed it, and I quote, "one of my better ones", probably due to being colour blind. I think it might have tasted quite nice but I was too confused to judge it fairly.
