The Hemsley sisters' courgette and aubergine curry recipe

Regularly penning recipes for their website , Vogue and The Guardian, the fashion world’s favourite health food gurus have gone on to top the bestsellers' lists time and time again with their popular recipe books. Here they share one of their favourites from ‘The Art of Eating Well’ - a delicious curry that's perfect for cosy nights in.

"Red split lentils provide a quick-and-easy creamy base without the need to soak them. The coconut and ginger have incredible immune-boosting properties and, as usual, we like to sneak nourishing homemade broth into all our cooking. With this fragrant curry, the bone broth is purely for the nutritional value, so you can afford to skip it if you don’t have any to hand (but please don’t be tempted to use stock cubes). Try this curry with coconut green beans and cauliflower rice, or serve with a pile of watercress on top or add in lots of finely shredded cabbage towards the end of the cooking time."

Serves 4 as a one-pot meal or 6 if served with a side dish

Ingredients

200 g bar of creamed coconut (use the oil for frying) or 2 tins of full-fat coconut milk plus 2 tbsp coconut oil or ghee, for frying

2 large onions, diced

2 thumb-sized pieces of fresh root ginger (about 80 g) – unpeeled if organic – grated

6 large garlic cloves, diced

200 g red split lentils, rinsed (no need to soak these)

½−1 litre bone broth or water (use a little less if you are using coconut milk and depending on how thick or saucy you want your curry to be)

1 large aubergine, choppedinto 1.5 cm pieces

4 large tomatoes, quartered

2 large courgettes, diced

grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lime or lemon (avoid the bitter white pith)

2½–3 tsp tamari or 2 large pinches of sea salt

1 tsp maple syrup

a handful of roughly chopped fresh herbs, such as coriander, mint or basil (Thai basil if you can get it)

a handful of peanuts or cashew nuts

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Method

1) In a large wide pan, dry fry the peanuts or cashews for a few minutes to toast them, roughly chop and then set aside.

2) In the same pan, heat the coconut oil over a medium heat and fry the onion, ginger and garlic for 10 minutes until soft (don’t let the onion and garlic go brown).

3) Add the lentils, the roughly chopped coconut solids or coconut milk, and then most of the bone broth or water (a bit less if you’re using the coconut milk) and stir well.This should be enough liquid for the coconut solids to dissolve, but keep an eye on the liquid levels so that the lentils don’t stick and burn at the bottom.

4) After 6 minutes of cooking over a medium-high heat, add the aubergine and stir.

5) After a further 10 minutes, add the tomato, courgette, lime or lemon zest and the tamari or salt. Add more bone broth or water if you think your curry needs it.

6) After 6 minutes, turn off the heat and add the lime or lemon juice, the maple syrup and fresh herbs, then stir and taste.You might need a little more tamari or salt or lime or lemon juice to add sourness.

7) Top with the nuts and serve with watercress or your chosen side dish. If we’re having guests round,we like to serve our curry with some little bowls of extras (nuts, herbs, lemon or lime wedges and a bowl of tamari or sea salt) so everyone can help themselves to extra toppings.

Extracted from  The Art of Eating Well  by Melissa and Jasmine Hemsley. Published by Ebury Press, £25. Photography by Nick Hopper.