Mushroom and Potato Curry

Hey! I hope you're well and either enjoying the warmer weather or the coming winter (like us). You may have been keeping up to date with my blogs, but we are currently in the South Island. We have just driven inland over two of the alpine passes - Lewis and Arthur. What amazing scenery and wildlife. The temperature has been dropping as we head further South. Luckily we've got a wool overlay that goes over our bed and a large throw. We haven't had to sleep in thermals yet! As we don't have power (so no heating) we are using candles and hot choc to keep us warm. In terms of food, we've been so busy lately that we haven't been cooking at night. In the morning we have a warming bowl of porridge with apple and raisins which keeps us going. We tend to have crispbreads or cook up something quick like a risotto pack or pasta. Then once we're done for the day, we have some soup and frittata. Any time we stay at a camp that has an oven, I've been cooking up big frittatas which keep us going for a week or more. Recently, I tried making one on the hob - it went well but the bottom was a bit burnt. Yesterday we did a lovely walk in the Arthur Pass National Park and then headed to Lake Brunner. It was half 3 and we hadn't had lunch. I wanted to make a late lunch/early dinner dish that would warm us up. We had one potato in our chilly bin and a couple of mushrooms. That made for an easy decision - Potato and Mushroom curry. It was so quick and you only need two pans. It makes for a healthy, warming dinner with few ingredients. Ingredients: (Serves 2) 1/2 cup brown rice Drop of oil 1 onion, chopped 1 potato (or kumara would be nice too), cut into quarters Couple mushrooms, diced  Any extra veg you want - I used 1/3 red pepper Curry powder Smoked paprika Seasoning 2 tbsp tomato paste 1/2 cup water Method 1. Start by heating water in a saucepan. Add rice and potato (allows it to soften a little). 2. Meanwhile, heat up the oil in a different pan. Add the onion and sprinkle over some curry powder and paprika. Season. 3. Once the onion has softened, add the mushrooms and any other veg you wish (chickpeas would be yummy). 4. Add the tomato paste and water to make a sauce. Allow to simmer and continue to add more of the spices. 5. Once the potato has softenend slightly, take out of the pan, cut into smaller chunks and add to the sauce. The potato should have time to cook in the flavours. 6. Once the rice is ready, the curry should be too (the longer you leave it, the more the veg will take in tbe flavours). 7. Serve and enjoy! This is a great dish to warm you up on a cooler night. Plus, it's cheap and quick to cook up! Thanks for reading. I'll continue to blog about our journey into winter and how that is in a van! X gf v x