Vegetable Jalfrezi

I was flipping through Jamie' Oliver's Food Revolution the other day, trying to find inspiration for supper, and came across his recipe for Vegetable Jalfrezi.  I love almost all vegetables - beets and rutabega are the notable exceptions - and I love me a curry so this seemed like the perfect fit.  Between the farmer's market and our pantry I had all of the ingredients for this interesting dish.

I didn't have the suggested butternut squash so I substituted a couple of zucchini and a few potatoes.  Not exactly the equivalent of a butternut squash but I really didn't want to go to the store.  Yup, too lazy.  And frugal.  Why buy another veggie when I have a fridge full of them.

As much as I wanted to love love love this dish, I only liked it.  I was very worried about it the whole time it was cooking and M's less rave review confirmed my fears.  There was something about the balsamic vinegar in the curry that just didn't work for me.  P & K ate their servings without much complaint.  I was a little worried about the level of spice because I was using a new curry powder (Arvindas) but I didn't find it too spicy.  Interestingly, all of the nooks and crannies in the cauliflower seemed to hold some of the spices and those bites were a little more piquant than, say, the potatoes.

This made an enormous potful of curry which would have been excellent had we loved it.  Since we only liked it I pawned some of it on our neighbours.  Did they like it?  Tough to say.  One enjoyed it and the other not so much but mostly because it was lacking meat.

Will I make this particular curry again?  No.  Will I try another Jamie Oliver curry?  Absolutely!