I’m a big fan of farmer’s markets.

I’m not quite sure what it is about them, the locality? the nice conversations with the tellers? maybe I just enjoy buying fresh food? I don’t know, but if I ever see a farmer’s market out in the wild, I go!

So the other day, I visited a farmer’s market in Bradford city centre. Newly built and never explored by myself, the Darley St Market boasts three floors full of independant stores and a vastly varying selection of shops. Today though, my focus is on groceries, as today I’m teaching you how to cook!

That’s right, section three of the constellation: Food! I love food, I love to cook food, apparently I cook quite good so I’ve decided to try to teach a few of my recipes to you in the hope of spreading the love a bit.

So, back at the farmer’s market I hit the greengrocers. I picked up a bushel of Spinach, five large Tomatoes, a can of Chickpeas, a Lemon (unrelated, that’s for another recipe), and a huge Brown Onion; and after a lovely conversation with the greengrocer, I had everything packed into my backpack and was heading home.

I already have the rest of the ingredients, but in case you don’t I have everything you need in a helpful list…

Ingredients:

• Half of a Brown Onion (~100g)
• Five large Tomatoes (or a tin of chopped tomatoes)
• A bushel of Spinach (or about two handfuls of leaves)
• A Tin of Chickpeas
• 125ml of Single Cream or Yoghurt
• 1 tbsp of Garam Masala
• 1 tsp of Cumin
• 1 tsp of Coriander
• 1 tsp of Turmeric
• A Pinch of Salt
• 1 tbsp of Vegetable Oil

As well as this, there’s a few utensils and such that you’ll need. It’s all cooked in one pan luckily so there’s not much to clean afterwards!

Equipment:

• Large Frying Pan or Wok
• Wooden Spoon
• Chopping Board
• Vegetable Knife

Once you’ve got everything ready it’s time to cook! In my experience it takes around half an hour to make everything properly, I tend to prepare everything as I go rather than split everything though.

Method:

1. Chop up the Brown Onion into small square chunks, and begin frying this in the Oil in the Frying Pan.
2. Once the Onion chunks have begun turning clear, sprinkle in the Cumin, Coriander, and Turmeric. Mix these in and continue frying the Onion.
3. Chop up the tomatoes into 12-16 pieces each and mix into the Onion.

4. Whilst the Tomato mix boils, slowly add the Spinach leaves. These will reduce greatly so add them slowly and stir. Once they are small enough, add more leaves until you have a good amount.

5. Once the spinach is well mixed, sprinkle in a healthy amount of Garam Masala, mixing well.

6. Leave the mixture to boil. Whilst waiting, begin draining the water from the tin of Chickpeas.

7. Once drained fully, mix the Chickpeas into the rest of the mixture. Crush a few of the Chickpeas as you mix to spread the flavour and texture of the bean.

8. Leave the mixture to reduce for a few minutes (I usually take this time to clean up any equipment I’m no longer using and any remnants of my cooking).

9. Once the curry is nice and thick, pour in the Single Cream and mix in.

10. Serve the Curry between two bowls and enjoy!

The Curry is best eaten with some classic Naan, but I’ve also found that a Tortilla has a similar dipping method with the dish so there are always options!

That recipe is enough for two servings, or one serving if you’re really hungry! To make more all you need to do is multiply everything, but take care with the spices as too much of any of them can be quite overpowering!

Enjoy 🙂