After my epic summer of courgette production, I froze a lot in a grated a chunk form to use over the autumn and winter months in soups and curries. This dish took just half an hour with the courgette and mussels thrown in direct from frozen. This recipe serves four hungry adults.
Perfect blend of spice for a cold and rainy day
You’ll need
- 150g cashew nuts
- 1 stick of lemongrass
- 3 bulbs of garlic
- 2 inches of ginger
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1-2 tsp crushed red chilli flakes
- 1 tin coconut milk
- 1-2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- Juice and zest of half a lemon
- 1 globe courgette – approx 300-500g – grated
- 6 cubes of frozen spinach (optional)
- 1 kg mussels – fresh or frozen
- 3 tbsp fresh coriander
- 1 lime for juice and decoration
To make it
- Blitz the cashew nuts, garlic, lemongrass and ginger in a food processor with the oil until it’s like a paste – you may need to add a little water to help it along.
- Pour this into a dry wok and stir fry over a gentle flame taking care to move it around to avoid burning.
- Add the tin of coconut milk and then fill the tin up with water and add this in too.
- Add the frozen spinach, courgettes, turmeric, salt and chilli powder and give it a good stir.
- Leave to cook for about 15 minutes until the frozen vegetables are defrosted.
- Add the zest and juice of the lemon. At this stage you might also want to adjust the other flavours as they will have been diluted depending on how watery your courgettes were. I usually need to add a little more garlic and chilli.
- Add the mussels, cover and cook for 8-10 minutes until all the mussels are open.
- Garnish with some finely chopped fresh coriander and a wedge of lime.
I eat this as it is or with some pieces of leftover crusty bread. You could have it over rice or couscous.