Today is World Vegetarian Day so it seems fitting to post a new veggie-based recipe. This one also features corn – something of a hit and miss with bariatric patients
and therefore hasn’t featured much in my recipe repertoire. Some find it a little fibrous after surgery and some have no problems at all. It would appear fresh corn can be the most problematic (and of course needs the most chewing!) but I find if you use tender canned corn to begin with then you can test the waters and see how your tolerability works out.
Here it is combined with butternut squash, onion, cauliflower, spinach and red lentils to make a cracking curry to serve with rice (if again liked and tolerated). Use wholegrain rice or another grain like quinoa for extra nutrition and remember you’ll only a need a tablespoon or two as an accompaniment.
CRACKING COCONUT VEGETABLE CURRY
Ingredients
METRIC/US
low-fat cooking spray or mist
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 butternut squash (about 500 g/1 lb), peeled, seeded and chopped into chunks
1 tbsp Madras curry paste (or your favourite strength curry paste)
400 ml/14 oz can reduced-fat coconut milk
300 ml/11/4 cups vegetable stock/bouillon
40 g/generous 1/4 cup red lentils, rinsed
350 g/12 oz cauliflower florets
340 g/12 oz can sweetcorn kernels, drained (I used Green Giant)
100 g/4 oz baby spinach leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
- Generously spritz a large pan with low-fat cooking spray or mist. Heat, add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
- Add the garlic, squash and curry paste and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the coconut milk, stock and lentils, mixing well. Cover and simmer for 12 minutes.
- Stir the cauliflower, sweetcorn and spinach into the pan with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook for 8 minutes or until the lentils are soft and have thickened the curry.
- Serve with rice if liked.
SERVES 4
WLS PORTION: 1/2
V suitable for Vegetarians
CALORIES: 240
PROTEIN: 9.1g
CARBOHYDRATE: 33g
FAT: 8.4g
Image courtesy of Green Giant