Jamaican Vegetable Curry

This is a tasty dish I whipped up for my work week. Full of vibrant colourful vegetables, warm curry spice, ginger, garlic, rich coconut milk and freshly squeezed lime. For my veg I added sweet potato, bell peppers and snap peas. I tossed in a can of fava beans too. Spinach wilted in at the end is nice, but I always add that to a smaller portion of soup that I heat up, never to the whole pot unless it was going to be eaten all at once. I wouldn't hesitate to mix up the veg you use either. Zucchini, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli are all good options! 

For my spice I used a store bought Jamaican Curry Powder. This is the brand I have at home right now, and it is good. I'm definitely not a curry expert, but I know Jamaican curries use a different blend of spices compared to Indian style curries, and it's definitely worth exploring if you haven't tried this style before. There isn't a full list of ingredients printed on the container, but the website says "it has all the spices you are looking for, such as turmeric, scotch bonnet and pimento". I didn't add extra heat to mine, because I find this has enough spice for me. However, it would be easy enough to add fresh chopped chili (I keep seeing scotch bonnet come up with Jamaican curries), or just add in some extra heat with a bit of sambal oelek, cayenne, or chili flakes.

I garnished my curry with fresh cilantro and scallions. Lime on the side for squeezing. A bit of rice or quinoa is nice on the side too. I was just stirring in a spoonful or two at a time into my curry as I ate. 

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

• 2-4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1/2 cup (60g) chopped ginger (I wash my ginger, but I don't bother peeling it unless the skin is gnarly)
• 1 head of garlic, cloves peeled and chopped
• 2 - 3 tbsp Jamaican curry powder (I used 2 tbsp + 1 tsp...the brand I used is linked above)
• 600 g sweet potato, cut into chunks (approximately 600 g, I used 3 very small sweet potatoes and weighed them for reference, also I didn't peel mine)
• 2-4 cups water or veg stock (to cover the potatoes to cook)
• 2 cans coconut milk
• juice of 2 - 3 limes (to taste, mine were dry and not super juicy & I ended up using 2 1/2)
• 2 x red bell peppers, seeded and sliced into strips (not too thin)
• 8 oz (227 g) Sugar Snap Peas, sliced diagonally in half 
• 1 can of beans, strained and rinsed (I used fava beans because I had them on hand, I wanted kidney beans but was I ran out. Chickpeas would be a good choice too).
• Salt and Pepper, to taste

Method

1. Heat a good drizzle of olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. 
2. Add onion and ginger, stir around for a couple minutes then add chopped garlic. Season with S&P
3. Sweat onion, ginger & garlic until softened.
4. Add curry powder and stir around a few minutes. 
5. Add  sweet potatoes, and top with water or veg stock to submerge potatoes. Season with S&P
6. Turn heat up to high to bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, open cans of coconut milk and add them to the pot.  
7. Simmer until potatoes are tender and the liquid has reduced. The less reduced, the more soup like it will be, vs a thicker curry.  
8. Add snap peas, bell peppers and beans to the pot along with lime juice. Season with S & P
9. Taste the broth to see where it's at. Add Salt and Lime until it's balanced.
10. Simmer until veggies are cooked through and the curry has reduced to your liking. 
11. Serve topped with fresh cilantro, scallions, a lime wedge and rice.     

​