I have had a food crush on India for as long as I can remember. I have been there a few times, and am always struck by the huge variety of vegetarian food, based on lentils, beans, potatoes, cauliflower, okra, peas, paneer cheese, fruit and spices. They always manage to combine strong and bold flavours with mild and sweet, into amazing soups, stews and stir-fries. In this recipe all the different spices trigger an explosion of flavours, which is rounded off with sweet, dried apricots and coconut milk. We often make our own spice blend, which basically is a way for us to increase the flavours of the standard supermarket curry spices.