Thai-style Root Vegetable Casserole.

This recipe is in this month's Sainsbury's Magazine (Nov 2010).

  This is a really tasty dish, warming, comforting and very healthy.  Pretty cheap to put together too.  The only problem is that it takes ages to peel and prepare so much root veg.  I think her quantities are slightly strange also.  She says it feeds 6 and she lists a whole swede in the ingredients and three sweet potatoes.  I used two sweet potatoes and half a swede and still there was a little too much of each of those.  Don't know where she's getting miniature swedes from.  She also gives good directions for making this dish so far and then freezing so I would recommend doing that although we didn't bother and are just having it two nights running.  The first night we had it with white rice.  I would usually have wholemeal as it is tastier but w had some left over basmati from the kedgeree we had a wee while ago.  Tonight we are having it with freshly baked crusty rolls.

Recipe - 

Serves 6. 

Ingredients - 

3 sweet potatoes, peeled 

1 swede, peeled

4 carrots

3 parsnips, peeled and any woody cores removed

2 turnips, peeled

4 tbsp vegetable oil

2 onions, chopped (oh and I added a little celery as you can see in the picture as I had some to use up)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

50g root ginger, peeled and finely chopped (I omit ginger from all recipes - it's the only thing I don't like)

1 red chilli, finely chopped

6 sticks of lemongrass, trimmed and tough outer leaves removed, the rest finely chopped (I didn't have any so didn't bother with this)

200ml hot vegetable stock

6 tbsp soy sauce

1 X 400ml tin coconut milk

2 handfuls chopped coriander

Method - 

1. Preheat the oven to 190C, fan 170C, gas mark 5 (UK).

2. Cut the sweet potato, swede, carrots, parsnips and turnips into large chunks.

3. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan over a high heat and cook the sweet potato until lightly browned.  Transfer to a large flameproof casserole dish and set aside.

4. Add a dash more oil to the pan, if needed, and brown the swede, carrots, parsnips and turnips in batches, removing them to join the sweet potato as they are done.

5. Add a little more oil to the pan and reduce the heat to low-medium.  Fry the onions, ginger, garlic, chilli and lemongrass for 10 mins until the onion has softened.  Transfer to the casserole and pour over the hot stock and soy sauce. You may need to add a little more water - the liquid should half cover the vegetables.

6.  Bring everything to simmering point on the hob, then stir and cover with the lid.

7. Cook in the preheated oven.  If you want to freeze, cook for 15 minutes, cool completely, transfer to a plastic container, cover then freeze.  To reheat, stir in the coconut milk and cook in the oven at 180C, fan 160C, gas mark 4 for 45 minutes.  Adjust the seasoning and stir in the coriander.

8.  Or do as I did and just leave in the oven for about half an hour then add the coconut milk, cook for another twenty minutes then stir in the coriander before serving.