Ever thought about where your food comes from? Food production is responsible for around 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions, showing the huge impact that our diets have on climate change. What’s more, animal-based foods produce roughly twice the emissions of plant-based ones.

One way to reduce the impact of our plates while still getting lots of food choice is to eat more seasonal fruit and veg. Eating seasonally means to eat foods that are naturally in harvest at the same time you are are eating them, and eating locally means eating food grown in the UK.

Getting out-of-season produce to the UK means airmiles and plastic packaging as it has to be flown in from overseas and wrapped for travel. The alternative is employing agriculturally intensive farming methods utilising pesticides and fertilisers to force the crop to to grow year round or growing them in energy intensive heated greenhouses.

The benefit of eating seasonally is that locally produced food is more tasty, and better for the environment.

This gorgeous cauliflower and chickpea curry is the perfect for this time of year. Just cook, portion and freeze the leftovers.

Ingredients (serves 6)

  • 1 cauliflower (use the head and leaves – these are edible but often discarded).
  • 800 grams potatoes.
  • 3 cloves of garlic.
  • 1 onion.
  • 1 green chilli.
  • 8 teaspoons of garam masala.
  • 1 tin of chopped tomatoes.
  • 1 tin of chickpeas.
  • Pinch of salt.
  • Coriander for garnish

Method

  1. Remove the leaves from the cauliflower and shred for use later.
  2. Cut the cauliflower head into florets.
  3. Roughly chop the potatoes and cook in boiling salted water for 10 – 15 mins or until soft.
  4. Peel and thinly slice the garlic, onion and chilli.
  5. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan over a low heat and put in the cauliflower florets, leaves, garlic, onion and chilli until softened.
  6. Stir in the garam masala, season with a dash of salt and cook everything for a few minutes.
  7. Add the potatoes and the tin of tomatoes. Simmer on a low heat for 10 minutes.
  8. Drain the chickpeas and add. Cook for a further 2 minutes.

Best served with rice, a garnish of coriander or a good dollop of coconut or soy yoghurt and a generous squeeze of lime juice. Add a side of warm naan bread to mop up the leftovers.