Summer Curry with Austrian Apricots, Spinach and Toasted Wholegrain Bread

Back in Munich, I am having a wonderful time meeting all my friends again. We meet in cafés, go shopping in countryside farmer’s stores and cook comfort food together. Yesterday I made a quick and easy curry for a friend who just came back from a long work day. But instead of grabbing the usual candidates – sweet potatoes (from the US), brown rice (from India) and okra (from Africa) – I looked around Munich’s beautiful Viktualienmarkt for local organic alternatives, and this is what I came up with:

(generously serves 2)

• 4 little potatoes, scrubbed and diced
• 2 medium-sized carrots, scrubbed and chopped
• a large handful of  young spinach leaves, chopped into strips
• 1 medium-sized parsnip, scrubbed and diced
• 4 garden tomatoes, diced
• 8 apricots (Austrian marillen)
• 100g (Turkish) red lentils
• 1 large onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 T porcini powder from the beautiful fresh mushroom stand (alt: vegetable stock)
• 1 t cinnamon
• pinch anis, coriander and cumin powder
• salt to taste
• 1 1/2 t freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 liter water (or a little more)
• 1 wholegrain bun from yummy organic bakery Hofpfisterei

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over a medium flame.
2. Add finely chopped onion and garlic cloves, porcini powder and spices (except salt/pepper) and brown gently.
3. Add the root veggies in the order of the time they take to become soft: carrots, potatoes, parsnip. Brown for a couple of minutes.
4. Add lentils, tomatoes and apricots. Cover with water, turn heat dow to low and leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5. Taste and salt/pepper accordingly.
6. Stir in the spinach.
7. Toast the wholegrain bun and

I didn't use the little Hokkaido pumpkin in the end...