Oscar & Bentleys' Gurkha Curry, Lemon Rice & Naan Bread

Corn, egg, gluten, lactose, milk, peanut, sesame, wheat free; can be nut and soya free

Oscar & Bentleys were the overall winners of the FreeFrom Eating Out Awards 2015. Two days after the presentation their Head Chef, Mark Kennett demonstrated this dish for us at Food Matters Live. Watch him and hear how he has learned to cook 'freefrom' so superbly!

This recipe is for the paste, sauce, rice and naan for the Gurka Curry to which you can add whatever main ingredient you choose. The recipe does include several allergens but all of them can be substituted – see Mark's notes at the bottom of the recipe.

Serves 6

Ingredients

Nepalese Masala Paste

  • 2 white onions, sliced
  • 1½ tbsp. fresh ginger, grated
  • 12 green cardamom pods, crushed           
  • 1 bulb garlic, crushed
  • 6 tsp. fennel seeds               
  • 1 tsp. hot chili powder
  • 3 tsp. ground cumin
  • 3 tsp. ground coriander
  • 1 tsp. turmeric

Curry Sauce:

  • 2 white onions, finely chopped
  • 4 vine ripe tomatoes, chopped           
  • 11 cinnamon stick
  • 4 cloves, crushed               
  • 1 tsp. cumin seeds
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 350ml. water
  • 300g. coconut cream/coconut milk*
  • 4 tsp. vegetable oil

Method for Masala Paste:
Place all the ingredients in a food processor and mix until a smooth paste.

Method for Curry Sauce:
Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, cinnamon stick, cloves, cumin seeds.  Fry, until the onion is golden brown. Add the masala paste, chopped tomatoes and continue heating.  You will see the oil slowly rising to the surface.  At this stage, carefully add the cold water and bring the sauce to the boil.  Simmer for 5-10 minutes.  Remove the bay leaf & cinnamon stick.  Blend the sauce with a stick blender.  Add the coconut cream/coconut milk*. 

The sauce is now ready to add the main ingredients.  If the meal is to be vegan, we add cooked aubergine and lentil.  Chicken, king prawn or a firm white fish are all great options.

Ingredients – Lemon Rice

  • 900ml cold water
  • 300g long grain rice
  • 10g cashew nuts, toasted & chopped*
  • 3 big pinches of curry leaves
  • 2 tsp. black mustard seeds*
  • 2 tsp. black gram lentils, cooked
  • 2 tsp. yellow split lentils, cooked
  • 1 tsp. turmeric
  • The juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp. sunflower oil
  • 1 tsp. salt

Method for Rice:
Heat the oil in a saucepan.  Add the mustard seeds*, black & yellow lentils.  Sauté until the mustard seeds* start spluttering (approximately 2 minutes).  Add the curry leaves and sauté for a further minute.  Add the cold water, rice, salt & turmeric.  Bring to the boil and simmer until cooked.  Once cooked, cover the pan to allow the rice to fluff up.  Add the freshly squeezed lemon juice, cashew nuts* and freshly chopped coriander leaves before serving.

Naan Bread

  • 400g. gluten free, self-raising flour
  • 200ml soya milk*
  • 125ml water
  • 1 tbsp. nigella seeds (black onion seeds)
  • 1 tsp. dried, instant yeast
  • 1 tsp. honey
  • pinch of salt

Method for Naan Bread:
This makes 12 mini or 6 medium size naan.

Mix the flour, yeast & nigella seeds.  Stir the soya milk*, honey, water and salt into the dry mix, combine to form a soft dough.  Prove for 45 minutes.  Heat a non-stick frying pan until it is very hot.  Use an oiled tablespoon to add the mix to the hot pan.  Use a circular motion with the back of the spoon to create the naan bread.  Don’t worry that it’s not even, naan bread should not be totally flat, it gives it character.  Cook both sides until it is lightly brown in places.

Wrap in a clean cloth to keep warm until ready to serve.

 

*ALLERGENS
We have made the basis of this curry totally vegan so that it is accessible to as many customers as possible.  It is gluten, dairy & egg free.  There are some changes that can be made to accommodate different requirements.

Curry Sauce:  If the dish doesn’t need to be dairy free then you can substitute the coconut milk/cream with natural yoghurt.  This would be a more traditional method of cooking the dish.

Lemon Rice:  The mustard seeds and cashew nuts can be removed totally from the dish if required.

Naan Bread:  The soya milk can be substituted with coconut milk if required.
 

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