Billy bjuder på skön vintermat med indiska förtecken. Och funderar lite över månadens mål.

I’ve set myself the goal this month, January, to run 10k every day. Coming up to the half way point it’s going pretty well, I’m trying to mix it up a bit. Hill repeats on Hammarbybacken, out with the headlamp off trail in the woods nearby where I live, hitting the well-trodden trails around Stockholm, commuting to work and even a bit of speed work on the roads.

The extra motivation of setting a non-race related goal in, what is in my opinion, the worse month of the year is making it a bit easier to lace up the insulated running shoes and get out of the door. I’m hoping that a base of at least 310k I get in during this month should set me up nicely for the coming year. With two 100-mile races on the calendar, I certainly hope so!

Pumpkin madras with Bombay potatoes, yoghurt and smoked shrimp

A lovely winter warmer of a dish, perfect after a long run on a cold day!

(serves 4)

Pumpkin Madras

1 pumpkin, or squash (roughly 900 g)

4 cm piece of ginger

4 shallots

4 cloves of garlic

1 fresh red chilli

1 bunch fresh coriander

rapsoil

1 tsk madras curry powder

1 tsk mustard seeds

10 curry leaves

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 x 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes

1x 400 g tin of coconut milk

Chop the pumpkin or squash into 3 cm chunks and cut the ginger into matchsticks. Chop the coriander leaves and the stalks – the stalks are full of flavour.

Pour a glug of oil into a large saucepan and place on a high heat. Add the ginger, garlic, red chilli and shallots, then reduce to a medium heat. Cook until golden, stirring occasionally, then add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and fry until the curry leaves go crispy. Add the curry powder, turmeric, tomatoes and coconut milk. Bring to the boil, then add the pumpkin. Reduce to a low heat, cover with a lid and simmer for 45 minutes. Check occasionally and add a splash of water if it looks a bit dry. Once the times up take the lid off and cook for a further 15 minutes or so until the sauce is nice and thick. Add the coriander keep a bit on the side for sprinkling over at the end.

Bombay potatoes

4 msk oil

1 chopped yellow onion

1 clove of crushed garlic

¼ tsk mustard seeds

2 pinches of chilli powder

¼ tsk turmeric powder

350 g peeled potatoes, boiled and quartered

Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a pan on a medium heat setting. To check that the oil is hot enough, sprinkle in a few mustard seeds, if they pop the oil is ready. Then add the remainder of the mustard seeds.

Add the chilli and turmeric powders to the sizzling seeds, and salt to taste.

Fry this mixture of oil and spices for 1 minutead the garlic and onion and cook gently until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes.Then add the potatoes, fry for about 4 minutes until the potatoes are smothered in seeds and appear to have crispy edges. They will look quite yellow in colour. Cover the pan and on a low heat, cook the potatoes for a further 5 minutes.

To serve

250 g peeled smoked shrimps (or unsmoked)

2 dl full fat plain yoghurt

Half a chopped cucumber

The remaining coriander

Enjoy!