Do you fancy a tasty and healthy lunch? Or a light meal? Then you should definitely try this easy vegetarian fennel curry. The preparation and cutting of the vegetables is the most work. Then, like most curries, they simmer in a pan or wok to make a delicious curry. You can serve them with the green fennel part, which strongly resembles dill. Read more about that below the recipe.
Easy vegetarian fennel curry
Ingredients
- 2 fennel
- 3 carrots
- 1 bell pepper yellow
- 200 ml vegetable stock
- 200 ml coconut milk
- 1 red chili pepper
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 cm ginger root
- 2 shallots
- 3 teaspoons curry paste yellow
- coconut oil alternative: vegetable oil
- pepper
- salt
- lemon juice
Instructions
The preparation
- Remove the outer skins of the shallots and garlic, then finely chop them.
- Also peel the ginger root and chop it finely.
- Halve the chili pepper lengthwise and remove the seeds. Then chop it finely.
- Peel the carrots and cut them into round slices. Tip: cut a little diagonally, that looks better.
- Wash the fennel and cut it in half. Remove the inner stump and then cut it into long strands.
- Wash the bell pepper and remove the inner part. Then cut it into square pieces.
Making the curry
- Heat some (coconut) oil in the pan and fry the shallots, ginger, garlic and the chili pepper.
- Then add the carrots, fennel and bell pepper. Let it fry for a few minutes.
- Then add the yellow curry paste, the vegetable stock and coconut milk. Let the curry simmer until the vegetables are al dente.
- Finally, season the curry with salt, pepper and some lime or lemon juice.
- Serve with (wild) rice, a piece of baguette or naan.
Nutrition
About this easy vegetarian fennel curry
No need to explain that this easy vegetarian fennel curry is very healthy. But it is also very easy to make. In the end, the preparation of the vegetables takes the longest part. Making the curry is really super easy.
Preparing the vegetables
At first sight, fennel is a bit difficult to work with. But with the right tricks, this goes pretty smoothly. First, remove the top green parts. Don't throw them away though! Keep this aside, so you can use it to decorate your plate at the end. They very strongly resemble dill. Read more about that further down in the article.
After you have washed the fennel, it is best to halve it. You then have two equal parts and a surface so that you can cut the fennel without endangering your fingers. First remove the hard core. Then you can easily cut the fennel into long stripes. If you have a large fennel, you can cut the stripes in half.
You also have different options to slice the carrot: half moon, full moon, ... That depends a bit on the size of the carrot and your own preference. I also like to cut them diagonally. Then you have bigger discs, and I think it looks better.
For the bell pepper, I usually cut off the top and bottom. Then you can easily remove the inside and cut the rest as you like. I do mostly squares or stripes.
Making the curry
The shallots, garlic, ginger and chili pepper are important flavor components for this curry. We first fry these in some (coconut) oil before we add the rest of the vegetables (fennel, carrots, bell pepper). After that it is time for the yellow curry paste, vegetable broth and coconut milk. The curry should simmer and cook until the flavors are well integrated. Finally you can add the last flavor components with pepper, salt and some lemon juice or lime juice. When you serve the curry you can decorate it with some of the dill-like upper green parts of the fennel.
What to eat as a side with this easy vegetable fennel curry?
When you say curry, basically you say rice. And I also prefer to make this vegetarian fennel curry with rice. Wild rice, in fact. This takes a bit longer to cook, but is healthier than traditional rice. For that reason I recommend to start with cooking the rice if you use wild rice. When it is cooked, you can simply keep it warm until the rest of the recipe is ready.
Naan is another classic dish from the Indian kitchen. And also naan is a perfect side for this easy vegetarian fennel curry. Naan is the well-known Indian flat bread, which in the original version comes from the tandoori oven. I guess most of you do not have a tandoori oven at home. No problem, you can also make it in a traditional oven or even in a pan. I definitely recommend garlic naan here, the version with garlic. So good!
Talking about bread. You may also choose to go to the bakery and buy some French baguette. Also a perfect match for this vegetarian fennel curry.
My dad likes vegetarian food with a piece of fish or meat. And of course you can also make a fennel curry with fish. In that case, I like to recommend baked salmon. Salmon and fennel pair very well together. In the category meat, I would advice to choose pork or chicken strips to go along with the fennel curry.
The difference between dill and fennel
The top green part of a fennel root very strongly resembles dill. Is it the same plant? and do supermarkets let us pay twice for the same plant? This needs some investigation.
To take any doubt away, dill and fennel are two different plants. With a completely different taste. Fennel is mostly known for the anise like flavor, which some people love, others hate. And the best known parts of it are the bulb and the seeds. it belongs to the same category of plants like carrots. Which we also used in this recipe.
Dill is a herb, and has a completely different smell. It is extremely popular in German and Scandinavian kitchen with fish and potatoes. The seeds of the dill plant are also used for flavoring.
If you are interested you may read more about dill and fennel in the following articles:
- The real difference between fennel and dill (mashed.com)
- The difference between fennel and dill (foodsguy)
- What is fennel (Masterclass)
- What's that vegetable? The dirt on fennel and anise (Today)
- What is the difference between dill and fennel (Pediaa.com)
More surprising.curry
Along with Mediterranean cuisine, Asian cuisine is my absolute favorite. Many trips in that region have of course also contributed a lot to this preference. And that means that we have a lot of tasty curries on offer here. Be sure to be surprised by the following recipes:
- Vegetarian chickpea curry.
- Thai pumpkin curry with pork.
- Pork curry with pineapple and bell pepper.
- Easy Thai pumpkin curry with chicken.
- Malai Kofta.
- Delicous banana peel curry.
This easy vegetarian fennel curry is inspired on a recipe idea from the German blog eatbetter.
If you speak Dutch, you can find the Dutch version of this recipe on gerechtenweb.blog.
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