RECIPE: Tofu & Sweet Potato Turmeric Curry (vegan)

This is one of my all time fave things to cook if I’m in the mood for comfort food.  I also find that the turmeric really helps with my inflammation.  It’s super easy and doesn’t require that much standing up in the kitchen shopping things up.  And if you can find ready chopped tofu, sweet potato and other veggies, then this recipe gets even easier!

I make my own curry powder mixture and keep it in a little jar in my cupboard.  It super easy to throw together too.  The basic mixture is as follows:

• 1 x tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 x tsp Garam Masala powder
• 1 x tsp Black Pepper
• 1 x tsp Coriander powder
• 1 x tsp Ginger powder
• A pinch of Cayenne Pepper ( or as much as you like)

Then repeat the above until your jar is as full as you want it.  Replace the lid and give it a good shake to mix it all together.

Now for the curry.  I use my trusty Le Creuset casserole dish because I cook literally everything in the oven, but you can use whatever you want and is easiest for you.

You will need the following ingredients, which makes the base curry.  You can add as many other veggies as you like, and if you wanted a meat option, chicken thighs would work really well.

• 1 x large sweet potato (or 2 small ones)
• 1 x packet of Tofu.  (I used Cauldron for this as it happened to be marked down in Waitrose)
• 2 x can coconut milk
• 1 x can chopped tomatoes
• 3 x cloves of garlic
• 1 x red onion
• pinch of salt
• as much black pepper as you want

1. Preheat your oven to gas mark 4 / 170 degrees celsius.
2. On the hob, put the coconut oil, crush garlic and chopped onion into your casserole dish with a teaspoon of turmeric, half a teaspoon of black pepper and gentle heat until the oil has become a clear liquid.
3. Pour half a can of the coconut milk into the dish and let simmer until it turns a lovely gold colour and starts to form more of a paste. Take off the heat.
4. Chop up your sweet potato and tofu (if not already chopped) If you cut your sweet potatoes into small enough chunks, you won’t need to par boil them first.
5. In a separate bowl, pour out one of the cans of coconut milk and add 1 teaspoon of your curry powder mixture and stir until mixed together.
6. Add the can of chopped tomatoes and another teaspoon of the curry powder and again, stir everything in together.
7. Add the rest of the coconut milk that you used earlier, and one last teaspoon of curry powder. Mix thoroughly.
8. Add the tofu to your curry sauce mixture and let it sit whilst you drain the potatoes if you parboiled them.
9. Put everything into the casserole dish and bring to the boil whilst stirring occasionally.  The sauce will start to go from a sort of pinky colour to a more golden colour.
10. Turn off the hob, put the lid on the dish and then put in the oven for 45-50 minutes.
11. Take the lid off the casserole dish, stir and then put back in oven without the lid for a further 30-40 minutes.
12. Serve with the rice of your choice!

This recipe gave me 4 portions so I had lunch sorted for 4 days.  You could also freeze some portions to have whenever you like.

This isn’t really a curry in the truest sense, but anything too hot and spicy sets if my IBS, so this is a very mild version.  You can make it as hot as you like though by adding fresh chillies, or using any other curry powder mixture.