2 medium dried red chillies
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon brown or black mustard seeds
3 teaspoons rapeseed oil
1 medium Spanish onion, thickly sliced
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 bay leaves (optional)
300g/11pz white or red potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
300g/11oz aubergine, cut into 2.5cm cubes
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate
1. In a grinder (or using a pestle and mortar), grind the chillies, coriander, cumin and mustard seeds to a powder.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onion and turmeric, and the bay leaves (if using). Fry over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes and fry for 1 minute. Cover and cook for 7 minutes on a medium heat until the potatoes are tender. Half way through cooking, check that the potatoes are not sticking to the bottom of the pan.
4. Add the aubergine and garlic and fry for 1 minute.
Add the tomato and fry for another minute. Cover and cook for 6 minutes. Stir in the ground spices and tamarind concentrate.
6. Add 400ml/14fl oz boiling water. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring half way though cooking.
Healthy eating
Healthy eating will help
you to control your weight, your blood sugar and your cholesterol.
It can greatly reduce your risk of getting heart disease, diabetes
or having a heart attack.
Traditional Asian meals are based on a healthy variety of
vegetables and pulses and are eaten with chapattis or rice. They
are generally good for you, with high levels of fibre, protein,
vitamins and minerals. However, there are steps you can take to
make your meals healthier.
What makes a meal unhealthy?
Saturated fat
Cooking or frying with ghee and butter and
adding them to dishes, increases the amount of saturated fat in your diet which could raise
levels of
harmful cholesterol in your blood and may make you put on
weight.
We recommend grilling your food instead of
frying it. Try using oil such as vegetable oil,
rapeseed oil, corn oil or sunflower
oil instead of butter or ghee and
carefully measuring the oil you use with a spoon
to help you manage the level of saturated fat in the food you cook for your
family.
For more recipes like this delicious mutton curry, why not try
join Heart Matters for free, and use our
online recipe finder for more
inspiration?
You can also download our
booklet Cholesterol
- and what you can do about it.
Too much salt
This will probably come as no surprise to you but eating
too much salt can give you high blood
pressure and it is not good for your heart. Take care with the
amount of salt you use in cooking, and don't add it at the
table.
TIP: Slowly reduce the amount of salt you add
each day, and try adding more herbs and spices to
bump up the flavour of your favourite dishes.
Download out booklet Blood
pressure - and how to control it
Take it away
The way many take away curries are prepared does not make
them a healthy option - there really is no substitute for home
cooking!
But you will find tasty and healthier versions of
traditional recipes in our Asian cookbook,
Healthy meals, healthy heart.
Watch our top chef cook up a healthy, tasty chicken tikka
masala in this video
See how
Healthy eating for a healthy heart can help the
whole family.