Mackerel & lentil curry

Cooking at home typically involves a trade-off between tasty and healthy food, and effort, including the time to shop for fresh ingredients. This recipe dials up convenience enough for me to cook it weekly, but remains tasty enough for me to love it every time.

Ingredients – serves two

1. 150–250 g (1–2 tins) tinned mackerel in oil
2. 300–450 g (2 large) onion, white or red
3. 20–30 g (4–6 cloves) fresh garlic
4. 20–30 g fresh ginger
5. 2 tsp curry powder
6. ½ tsp salt
7. 200 g (½ tin) chopped tomato
8. 200 g (½ tin) brown lentils in water
9. 1 courgette

Method

1. Drain all of the oil from the tinned mackerel into a wide pan.
2. Finely chop the onion, and add to the pan.
3. Brown the onions on a medium heat (induction 6) for at least 30 minutes, stirring regularly.
4. Finely chop, mince or crush the garlic and ginger, and add to the pan.
5. Fry the garlic and ginger for a few minutes, without burning it.
6. Add the salt.
7. Fry the curry powder in the oil for one minute.
8. Add the mackerel, chopped tomatoes, and lentils, including the water from the lentil tin.
9. Simmer for at least 15 minutes.
10. Chop the courgette into 1 cm cubes.
11. 10–15 minutes before serving, add the courgette, so it cooks but retains texture.
12. Serve with rice.

Tips

Browning the onions enough without burning them requires the most practice. You may also have to watch (videos of) someone doing it properly to accept how much more oil it needs than you would use in Italian cooking, for example. Ideally, you would have time to cook them slowly enough to turn an even golden brown, darker than in the photo (above) without going brown at the edges first. Of course, ideally you have someone else who can spend all day in the kitchen for you.

To fry the curry powder in the oil, push the contents of the pan to one side, tip the oil back into the gap, and stir the curry powder into the oil (photo, above).

For additional flavour, add extras when serving, to make the result more interesting. For example, stir in 1 teaspoon garam masala immediately before serving, garnish with lots of chopped fresh coriander, and use lime pickle as a condiment.

Variations

1. If you prefer soft courgette, add them with the mackerel, chopped tomatoes, and lentils (photo, above).
2. For extra flavour, roast the cubed courgette in the oven while baking something else, deglaze the oven dish with boiling water, and add to the curry.
3. Use aubergine instead of courgette.
4. Serve with steamed spinach or stir-fried (tenderstem) broccoli, instead of courgette.
5. Serve with minimally-cooked frozen broccoli, instead of courgette, to minimise shopping for fresh ingredients.
6. Use a different curry powder, or add extra turmeric (photo, above, under Tips).