National Pizza Day is on 9th February. National Burger Day is on 23rd August. You’ve just missed National Cheese Doodle Day on 5th March (unless you celebrated it, perhaps by eating your bodyweight in cheese doodles). Sometimes it seems that every food worthy of overindulgence is given its own special day, giving you a little push to binge on things that are spectacularly unhealthy in anything but moderate amounts.
Well, purveyor of soy-based foods Alpro is trying to get in on the act by coming up with National Plant Power Day, which falls on 7th March. Will this succeed in convincing you to overindulge on plants by eating your bodyweight in butternut squash or mainlining almond milk? No, it will not, in part (and only in part) because Alpro has set its sights a little lower by asking everyone to make plants the star of the entire day, or a meal, or a snack, or even just replacing the milk in your coffee.
We’re fully behind this admirable effort because while there’s a frankly dizzying number of diet plans and conflicting nutritional advice out there, everyone – everyone – agrees that we should eat more plants. So eat more plants, starting on Plant Power Day, and starting with this sweet potato curry recipe from Alpro.
See related
- How to Get Started with a Plant-Based Diet
- Why You Should Go Part-Time Vegetarian
- Reasons to Eat More Veg: The Grain Store’s Chilli Con Veggie Recipe
Sweet Potato Curry Recipe
Ingredients (Serves Two)
- 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2cm pieces
- 2tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil
- 2 medium onions, finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
- 1tsp paprika
- 2tsp ground turmeric
- 1tsp medium curry powder
- ¼tsp hot chilli powder
- 1tsp ground coriander
- 1tsp garam masala
- 4 green cardamom pods, crushed
- 227g canned chopped tomatoes
- 1tbsp tomato purée
- ½ green pepper, deseeded and diced
- 1 green chilli, finely diced
- 250ml vegetable stock
- 2 vine tomatoes, quartered
- Pinch of salt
- 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
For the garam masala raita:
- 150g Alpro Simply Plain alternative to yogurt
- 1tsp garam masala
- ½tbsp dried mint
Method
- Preheat the oven to 190°C/gas 5 and line a baking tray with baking parchment. Toss the sweet potato chunks with 1tbsp oil and spread out on the tray. Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly caramelised and tender.
- Meanwhile, add the remaining oil to a medium saucepan and warm over a low-medium heat. Fry the onions, garlic and ginger for eight to ten minutes, or until very soft. Stir in the paprika, turmeric, curry powder, chilli powder, coriander, garam masala and crushed cardamom pods and mix to form a thick paste. Cook for one to two minutes, adding a little extra oil if needed.
- Add the canned tomatoes and tomato purée and cook for two to three minutes. Add the green pepper, green chilli, vegetable stock, fresh tomatoes and salt. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 35-45 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Add the chickpeas and sweet potato to the sauce and cook until heated through.
- To make the garam masala raita, mix all the ingredients together and season. Serve with the curry and rice.
