This dish has fascinated me for many years. A popular dish in India and Sri Lanka.

It’s fascinated me due to the fact you are taking a very humble ingredient ‘the beetroot’ to be the star of the show!

Many many versions of this dish have the beetroot cooked in coconut milk to have a very creamy curry. I have this dish listed in several Indian / Asian cook books but interestingly enough I’ve taken it from Rick Steins ‘At Home’ cook book which was written during lockdown I’m guessing due to him being trapped in Australia during the Pandemic and being board as all the recipes are influenced by this period!

Rick’s versions has the dish cooked in a little amount of chopped tomatoes (tinned) and water so it’s like a stir fry giving the beetroot a nice crunch and the chance to be the star of the show!

Also, what I liked about this dish was how few ingredients were needed to be create this beautiful and different dish. Obviously this is a very healthy dish plus it’s a relatively cheap dish to create.

Ingredients-

750g of raw beetroots, 3 tbsp of coconut oil, 1 tsp of cumin seeds, 1 tsp of black mustard seeds, small cinnamon stick, 10/12 curry leaves, 2 green chillies finely diced, 1 onion finely diced, 1 large heaped tbsp of garlic and ginger paste, 1 tsp of curry powder, 1 tsp of chilli powder, 1/4 tsp of turmeric, 125g of tinned tomatoes, juice of a lime, good pinch of salt and chopped coriander.

Method –

Prepare your beetroots. Peel your beetroots to expose the flesh like you would when you peel a potato. Nothing better than having this basic ingredient in your hand.

Once the beetroots have been peeled then prep them further by cutting them into cubes.

Heat the coconut oil. In a Karahi pan this doesn’t take long as that’s the benefit of a Karahi pan.

Add in the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, cinnamon stick and the curry leaves. These will start spitting not long after they have hit the oil due to the heat created in by the pan.

As soon as the mustard seeds start to crack and spit add in the diced onion, diced green chillies plus the garlic & ginger paste.

Cook these for 5/7 minutes until the onions brown slightly. Add the ground spices – curry powder, chilli powder and turmeric. Give this a good stir around the pan.

Add the chopped tomatoes…..

Followed by the cubed beetroot……

Give the pan a good stir and add a good pinch of salt. Cover the pan, as the karahi pan doesn’t come with a lid I used a plate upside down. This then steamed the beetroot. I also added a touch of water. The steam will also create moisture.

Finish the dish with a good handful of coriander. ……..

And the lime…..…

I served mine with steamed basmati rice.

Such a wonderful dish. As I’m a big fan of beetroot and always have been this is a dish for me. As I have loads left I will be eating it with a salad and BBQ on the Saturday night.

Thank you for reading my ramblings ❤️

If you have that is 😂