The past few weeks I’ve been trying to eat healthy, exercise regularly and do all my uni work, and I feel like I’ve not taken time to do things I enjoy, including cooking. So, today I took myself off to the shops to fill my fridge with exciting new ingredients for the week ahead.

Pasadena Foodland is the most amazing supermarket that’s only 10 mins from my doorstep. The shelves are stacked with everything you can imagine, it’s even got an oyster bar- does a supermarket need an oyster bar… apparently so.  Anyway, I went around with my strict list and my budget in mind, and tore myself away from the walls of treats and expensive organic produce to get exactly what I needed.

Below is a picture of my food haul- all for $55, which is equivalent to just over £31- not too bad for everything I bought. I was doing some bargain hunting too and managed to save about $10.

I have been craving a curry for a while now, however, as much as I’d love to order takeaway, the funds just aren’t there. So, the next best thing (or maybe even better) is homemade. I had a quick look online and came across a veggie curry that sounded amazing. The ingredients are:

 

• 1 Onion
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 1 Small piece of ginger
• 3 tbsp Thai red curry paste
• 1 tbsp Smooth peanut butter
• 3 Small sweet potatoes
• 400ml Tin coconut milk
• 100g Spinach
• 1 tbsp Lime juice

I started off by ensuring all of my ingredients were prepped and ready, this made it easier and quicker when it came to the actual cooking. There was no rushing around desperately mincing garlic and peeling sweet potatoes.

I started by heating a drizzle of oil in a large pan. The curry serves around 4/5 portions so unless you are going to split the ingredients I would recommend using a big wok or casserole dish. Into the pan I added the chopped onion and cooked this until it had begun to golden.

Once the onion was translucent I added the garlic and ginger. The recipe recommends grating these two ingredients but, sadly I don’t have a grater, so I finely chopped them instead. The smell at this point becomes super fragrant and after a minute I added the Thai red curry paste.

I then added a large spoon of smooth peanut butter. I love peanut butter, so I would happily add another spoon or two, however, I promise once it has all been cooked you can’t actually recognise it, so please don’t let this put you off if you don’t like it on its own.

The nut butter melted into the curry paste, making a lovely sticky mixture. At this point I added the peeled sweet potato that I had chopped into rough chunks. I must admit I only started with 2 sweet potatoes, but I thought the sauce to potato ratio wasn’t quite right, so I added another. The recipe calls for 500g but I don’t have scales, so it was a bit of guess work on my part.

Once the potato was mixed with the curry paste I added the coconut milk and 200ml of water. I used the can to measure the water, ensuring I didn’t waste any of the coconut milk. At this point it was smelling really good, I couldn’t wait to eat it.

Sadly, it needed to cook for another 20 minutes or so, until the sweet potato was soft. I bought the curry to boiling point and then turned the heat down to a gentle simmer.

When the curry was ready I stirred in the spinach, lime juice and added salt and pepper. Finally, it was ready to eat. I served the curry with brown rice and a gluten free wrap that I toasted slightly.

 

I managed to purchase everything relatively cheaply, the most expensive ingredients being the Thai red curry paste. However, I only used a few spoons so there’s loads left in the jar for future use. The spicy gift that keeps on giving? The peanut butter is the same too, however you can buy peanut butter pretty cheaply in the UK.

The whole meal cost around $7. I had to guess with the nut butter and curry paste, but it makes it around $1.64 per serving.

Not only delicious but far healthier and cheaper than getting takeaway!

If you want the full recipe check it out below!
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/satay-sweet-potato-curry