My favourite curry recipe

Happy Friday!

I love a curry, especially on a Friday night with a few lovely cold beers. Is there anyone that doesn’t? There is a curry out there for everyone, whether you like spicy food or not – even some of the side dishes are substantial enough for a main such as saag paneer or a lovely dhal served up with basmati rice and a garlic naan. YUM!

A few months ago I discovered this gorgeous recipe on BBC Good Food and since then I’ve cooked it several times and adapted it to suit my taste. It does have a kick so if you prefer a bit less spice I would omit the chilli flakes.

Do not be put off by the amount of spices required, these will come in handy in other dishes and it may be likely you’ve already got them lurking around. Don’t make the same mistake as me and panic buy them so you end up with three jars of fennel seeds!

I love this curry for the fact it doesn’t have coconut milk in, you can make it fully from scratch and once you have the base masala sauce, you can add anything into it or make it vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian. However, for me I love a chicken curry, so that’s what this recipe is.

For the ingredients you will need:

• 1 large onion
• 6 garlic cloves
• 50g ginger, roughly chopped
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• lemon juice from half a lemon
• Maldon sea salt
• 3 tsp cumin seed
• 1 tsp fennel seed
• Cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 2 tsp tumeric
• 1tsp sugar or a sugar cube
• 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 8 organic chicken thighs, around 800g
• 200ml organic chicken stock
• Chopped corriander

1. Roughly chop up the onion and add to a small processor, add three tablespoons of water and whizz up to a paste. You could use a hand blender or grate the onion, but if you grate the onion you won’t need the extra water. Then tip this into a small bowl and leave to one side.
2. Now put the garlic and ginger in the processor and add four tablespoons of water – process until smooth and then put into another bowl. Alternatively, you can grate the garlic and ginger.
3. Heat the oil in a good, solid, thick bottomed pan over a medium heat. Add the cumin and fennel seeds with the cinnamon and chilli flakes all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon for about 30 seconds until you get a lovely fragrant smell.
4. Then add the onion paste – be prepared it will splutter! Fry until the water evaporates and the onions turn a lovely, dark, golden colour. This will take the best part of 10 minutes and then add the garlic and ginger paste, stirring all the time so it doesn’t catch.
5. Add the lemon juice and salt and stir through. Then stir in the garam masala, tumeric and sugar – combine everything thoroughly and tip in the tomatoes. Cook this on a medium heat (without a lid) for about 10 minutes and the tomatoes will go a lovely dark colour and reduce down.
6. Whilst that is cooking and smelling gorgeous, dice up the organic chicken thighs and add to the thicken tomato masala. Cook for around five minutes so the chicken can absorb the sauce and then pour over the hot chicken stock. Simmer for about 15 minutes, keeping your eye on it, until the sauce has thickened again. Depending on how you you like your curry, you could add another ladle of water if you feel it needs it.
7. Once you’re ready and happy with the consistency, sprinkle fresh corriander over the curry and serve with fluffy basmati rice, yogurt, mango chutney and chapatis. Oh and naan bread if you fancy it!

This will easily feed four people but it works for two with good leftovers 🙂

Enjoy!

A xx