Coconut Mushroom Curry recipe

We are still trying to have at least one vegetarian dinner each week in

Coconut mushroom curry 

order to help reduce our meat consumption. It's that Farmageddon book again! This week's fare was a mild but tasty curry made with mushrooms, coconut milk and spices. If you prefer a hotter tasting dish, you can always add either some fresh chilli or ground chilli powder. Dave is finding that he is becoming less tolerant of hot spices so we are gradually reducing this aspect in our food. In several recipes, including this one, we have discovered flavours that were previously masked by the heat so it's like eating a new meal!

Ingredients
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
250g everyday mushrooms, quartered
400ml tin of coconut milk - don't shake it!
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
Salt and pepper
Lemon juice or preserved lemon slices. Opies are good.

Fry the onion and garlic until softened. I used our new locally produced Yare Valley rapeseed oil, which cooks at a much higher temperature than olive oil, for the first time. Our onion was therefore browner than I'd usually like, but the oil does have a good flavour.

Add the spices and stir in, then add the lemon juice or slices, and the quartered mushrooms and cover the saucepan to keep their liquid in. A selection of different mushrooms might be nice, but I just had a tub of everyday supermarket white mushrooms. When the mushrooms have softened, uncover the pan and reduce the liquid a little.

Spoon in the thick coconut cream from the top of the coconut milk can. You don't need to be too precise about this. If a little coconut water gets in, or cream stays out, it's not a disaster! A  smaller carton of coconut cream would be ideal, but I can rarely find any unless there is a Waitrose nearby. If you prefer a runnier sauce, add more of the coconut water. Pour the remaining coconut water into a glass and drink it. It's nice!

When the sauce is just starting to simmer, remove from the heat and serve the Coconut Mushroom curry with steamed rice.