So I guess summer's officially over, for me personally that's kind of exciting as my favourite time to make food is when the nights are longer and you get to make the types of dinners that you feel are like a big blanket for your tummy.

The vegetables in season now are way hardier than the salad and fruit selection that's been available in the last few months so you can now start making big pots of delicious stews and curries. Perfect for the months ahead and suitable for freezing so you can come home and have a way better than store bought ready meal.

One of my favourite types of curry is a Thai influenced one, this particular one has Persian or Indian roots and has way more spice elements than your typical light and fresh Thai curry.

I love that there are so many levels to it and not an overpowering heat either so even chilli haters can handle this curry. I like to serve it with coconut rice and have some pickled cucumber and toasted peanuts on the side.

Now here is a sneaky wee cheat for you all, you can make the paste for this easy peasy which is what I normally do but the whole point I think of what I'm trying to get across is that vegan cooking is quick and simple and you don't have to have lots of different store cupboard ingredients.

You can buy Massaman paste in a tub ready made and it will do you for a good few pots of curry. It's available in most Asian markets and superstores. If however you want to make your own paste then I've listed the ingredients below.

For the paste:

1 onion small dice

1 red chilli sliced

1 bulb of garlic diced

1 6inch bit of ginger or galangal diced

5 blades of lemongrass takes the outer leaves off, bash with the back of your knife and slice thinly

8 lime leaves or if you can find them a squeeze of lime will do at the end.

Tbsp of ground cumin

Tbsp of ground coriander

Tbsp of ground cardamom

¼ tsp of ground nutmeg

¼ tsp of ground cloves

¼ tsp of ground cinnamon

5 bits of star anise

Method

1 Try and chop all of the fresh ingredients as small as you can (or blitz it in a food processor), you don't want lumpy bits through your paste, and you can also freeze this if you make a larger batch and use again at a later date.

2 You can gently dry fry all of these without the oil first to release the flavours.

3 Once you can smell everything add some vegetable oil and mix until it turns into a paste.

4 Then whilst its all simmering add 2 tins of full fat coconut milk and simmer away.

5 You should pop a veggie stock cube in and also a couple of tbsp of brown sugar and a tbsp of tamarind paste.

6 As you are waiting for the curry sauce to cook off you can prepare your vegetables.

 

For the vegetables

1 large white onion diced

3 large aubergines - dice these and oil and season then throw in the oven and roast for 20 min or until golden

1 packet of green beans top and tailed

6 potatoes diced

Once everything is set to go just throw it into the pot and let the whole thing simmer until the potatoes are soft, they should give the sauce a really creamy texture along with the crispness of the beans and aubergine makes for a really lovely curry.

For the pickle:

2 Tsp of white sugar

Tsp of salt

Cup of rice vinegar or cider vinegar

Thinly sliced cucumber (you can pretty much use any fresh veg for this)

1 Let this all combine and set aside in the fridge till ready to serve

2 For the rice you can add a tin of coconut milk to the water towards the end of the cooking, it's also nice to serve with toasted coconut on top.