Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for sweetcorn, tomato and runner beans with pickling spices

From theguardian.com

A sharp, salty-sour mingling of Gujarati and Punjabi curries, featuring seasonal runner beans and sweetcorn

Over the next few weeks, the great sweetcorn harvest of the UK will begin leaving farmers’ markets and supermarkets in abundance. I’ve been experimenting with different ways of dispatching them, and this curry is the result: the lovechild of a Gujarati sweetcorn-and-tomato curry (makai nu shaak) and a Punjabi achari “pickled” curry. It borrows the fresh tomatoes from the Gujarati side, while adopting some big, hot, salty and sour pickle flavours from the Punjabi, achari-style curry, into which the corn, with its natural sweetness, slots right in.

Sweetcorn, tomato and runner beans with pickling spices

You’ll need a big (say, 28cm), deep frying pan for this. If you can’t get your hands on fresh corn cobs, use frozen kernels – they’re often half the price of (and taste more natural than) their tinned counterparts.

Prep 20 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 4

5 tbsp rapeseed oil
½ tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black mustard seeds
¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp nigella seeds
300g runner beans, trimmed and finely sliced on a steep angle
3 corn cobs, kernels sliced off, to get 350g
3 garlic cloves, peeled and grated
1 red onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
750g mixed tomatoes, chopped – vine tomatoes quartered, cherries halved, big ones cut into wedges
1 tsp kashmiri chilli
1¼ fine sea salt

Put the oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat and wait until it is properly hot (you can tell by holding your hand about 15cm above the pan). When hot, add the fennel, cumin, black mustard, fenugreek and nigella seeds, and leave them to sizzle for 30 seconds to a minute, but no longer. Add the runner beans and corn kernels, fry, stirring, for three or four minutes, then add the garlic and onion, and fry for two minutes more.

Tip the tomatoes into the pan, stir in the chilli and salt, then cook until the tomatoes are starting to break down and letting out their juices, but still just clinging on to their shape, which should take about 10 minutes. Taste, adjust the seasoning, if need be, and serve with rice or flatbreads.

Meera Sodha’s sweetcorn, tomato and runner beans with pickling spices. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food assistant: Jessica Geddes.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/aug/20/vegan-recipe-sweetcorn-tomato-runner-beans-pickling-spices-meera-sodha