A good side dish to accompany a curry – I like it best with lamb. It’s a good one if you’re serving a hot curry sauce since the vegetables provide a sweet, almost cooling counter-balance to the heat of the chilli. It also works well with a spiced and roasted piece of meat. Try it with lamb neck fillet which has been rolled in garam masala and a pinch of chilli powder before slowly roasting.

Inspired by and adapted from Anjum Anand’s spicy peas with ginger from her latest book I Love Curry.

Serves 2

Preparation time: 5-10 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

2 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 inch piece of ginger, cut into batons

selection of enough vegetables to serve 2 as a side dish (sticks of carrots, frozen peas, sliced mushrooms, shredded cabbage, small cauliflower florets, shredded runner beans, green beans are all good to choose from)

1 whole green chilli, pierced with a knife or 1/4 tsp chilli powder (optional – if you’re having a hot curry you may want to leave it out)

1/4 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp mango powder (this adds a lovely citrus note to the dish so you could use a tiny squeeze of lemon if you can’t get hold of it)

salt

water

Method

1. If you’ve plumped for any hard vegetables like carrots, green beans or cauliflower, start by par-boiling them to speed up the cooking. You can either do this in a pan of water, steam them or put them in a bowl with a few drops of water and cook in the microwave on high for a couple of minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan then drop in the cumin seeds. Once they start to crackle add the ginger and stir-fry for a minute or so.
3. Tip in the vegetables and stir-fry for a few minutes before adding the spices and a pinch of salt. Stir well and add a couple of splashes of water to create some steam.
4. Turn down the heat and cook for a few minutes longer before serving.