Wild Garlic and White Bean Curry

Name: Wild Garlic and White Bean Curry
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: 2 cups (400g) podded fresh coco beans, or 1 cup (200g) dried cannellini beans, cooked (see above); 1 teaspoon vegetable oil; 2 red onions, peeled and finely sliced; 1 1/2 teaspoons coriander seeds; 1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds; 1 teaspoons fenugreek seeds; seeds from 5 cardamom pods; 3 fresh red chiles (or more if you like heat), sliced (seeded if you prefer less heat); 12 fresh curry leaves; 6 kaffir lime leaves; small handful of cilantro roots, washed and minced; 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed; 2 tablespoons jaggery juice of 2 limes; 3 tablespoons fish sauce; 2 x 12 ounce (340 g) cans good quality peeled plum tomatoes; generous 3/4 cup (200 ml) coconut milk; 10 ounces (300 g) wild garlic leaves

By Skye Gyngell

March 3, 2011

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Wild Garlic and White Bean CurryCookbook cover image courtesy of Random House

The beauty and subtlety of wild garlic makes this dish very appealing, and fresh curry leaves add a fragrance that is quite seductive. During the summer months we pod fresh coco beans and cook them directly in the curry until soft. In winter we soak dried cannellini beans overnight and precook them in water for an hour or so over gentle heat, with one or two herbs added for flavor. I like to serve this curry just as it is, but you could add chunks of white fish to it.