This family friendly vegetable curry recipe was inspired by a lunch our local day-nursery used to prepare for the children. At that time (2009/2010) personally I hadn’t dared to serve curry to the family table, as my preconceptions were that children so small wouldn’t like the taste of the spices. This is why I always encourage my kids to also eat elsewhere. What they won’t eat at our table (or what is presumed they will not eat) they may somewhere else. I learned that lesson quickly.
**This recipe is so mild it’s the perfect introduction to curry**
It’s been a while since I first posted my vegetable curry recipe, which I have now adapted further. Looking back at my blog this slow cooker vegetable curry recipe was one of the first I shared – but without photos! Whaaat?!?!?
Family Friendly Vegetable Curry Recipe
Serves 4 generously when adding rice and naan bread! (enough usually for a packed lunch or 2 the next day):
You will need:
2 medium sweet potatoes – peeled and cubed into bite-size pieces
1 red pepper – diced
1 courgette/zucchini – diced and chopped into bite-size pieces
1 red onion – peeled and chopped
700g Passata
400g tin of baked beans
200g tin of sweetcorn
1 teaspoon of curry powder
Step by step instructions:
Prepare the vegetables as described in the ingredients list.
Pop the vegetables into a standard sized slow cooker.
Add the tinned baked beans and the sweetcorn.
Pour over the passata.
Add a teaspoon of curry powder.
Stir all of the ingredients until mixed thoroughly.
Cook for 4 hours on high, or 8 hours on low.
Cost:
2 Sweet Potatoes: £0.30
Red Pepper: £0.45
Courgette/Zucchini: £0.30
Onion: £0.22
Passata: £0.79
Baked Beans: £0.27
Sweetcorn: £0.41
Microwaveable pilau rice £0.49 x 2 (£0.98)
2 Packet Naan Bread £0.49
(I’m not sure what 1 teaspoon of curry powder costs – but I’m thinking ‘not a lot’?)
Total cost of the curry is approx. £2.74 (69p each so let’s round-up to 70p to allow for the powder also) plus sundries at £1.47 (37p each) coming in at £1.06 per head. It’s definitely a feed your family for under a fiver recipe!
Prices are based on Aldi UK 4 May 2016 – and have been rounded up to the nearest pence. This post is not sponsored – I have used Aldi prices as this is where I purchased the ingredients knowing they would be reasonably priced for this recipe.
When you compare this to the cost of a takeaway meal from the local curry house – it’s likely to be around 75% less. I know now when we order food, as the Kids’ get older, our bill is typically upwards of the £20 mark.
This recipe isn’t made entirely from scratch – and there will be ingredients contained in the passata and the baked beans that are added in during the manufacturing process, and aren’t food in its most basic form. But for ease sometimes Mo/um’s (you see what I did there?) make that compromise between buying a ready-made manufactured meal in its entirety and taking a couple of short-cuts to rustle up their own. It would be easy to substitute the passata for blended tomatoes and the baked beans for plain haricot beans (cooked as per guidelines) – and this would reduce the amount of sugar and salt contained, if that was of concern.
I love this vegetable curry recipe because it’s jam-packed with vegetables, it’s very economical and super simple to make and keep warm until ready to dish up – minimum fuss. It’s a great meal for a night when there are activities straight from school and with hungry kids ready to eat once home, it’s on the table in 5 minutes (and that’s only because the bread needs warming and the rice heating!). Have I mentioned before just how much I love my slow cooker/s?
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