Neven Maguire: A quick vegetarian curry with spicy cauliflower and chickpeas

Neven Maguire is our Irish Times Food Month guest chef this week and each day he will be sharing a recipe from his latest cookbook, Midweek Meals: Simple Recipes for Everyday Eating.

As a chef, restaurateur and TV presenter, Maguire has finger on the nation’s culinary pulse and has sold more than 100,000 cookbooks.

This week he will be sharing five recipes for meals that are easy to cook, and quick to prepare (or will sit happily in a slow cooker)

Spicy cauliflower and chickpea curry

The curry sauce can be made well in advance – it will keep in the fridge for up to three days and it also freezes very well. You could always add diced chicken or tender lamb or beef pieces to the dish, just put them in before adding any of the vegetables.

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Serves four to six
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes

Ingredients
4tbsp rapeseed oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 × 4cm (1½in) piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
2 onions, chopped
600ml (1 pint) water
8 ripe tomatoes, chopped, or 1 × 400g (14oz) tin of Italian chopped tomatoes
2tsp ground cumin
2 tsp garam masala
1tsp paprika
1tsp ground turmeric
½tsp cayenne pepper
1 large cauliflower, cut into florets (about 500g, or 1lb 2oz in total)
2 × 400g (14oz) tins of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve: coriander and garlic naan bread, natural yoghurt, mango chutney

Method
1 To make the curry sauce, heat the rapeseed oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 20 seconds or so, stirring. Tip in the onions and stir-fry for five minutes, until they are translucent but not coloured.

2 Pour the water into the pan and bring to the boil. Add the tomatoes, cumin, garam masala, paprika, turmeric and cayenne pepper, stirring well to combine. 3 Season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook over a low heat for 30 minutes, until slightly reduced and thickened. Blitz with a hand-held blender until you have achieved a smooth sauce.

4 Add the cauliflower and chickpeas to the curry sauce, stirring well to combine. Reduce the heat, cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 8-10 minutes, until the cauliflower is just tender. Divide between shallow bowls and scatter over the coriander. Serve on plates with the coriander and garlic naan bread and natural yoghurt swirled with mango chutney on the side.