Ben Cooks Favourite Chicken Curry

Hi. This week, I am looking forward to a chicken curry, one that I often cook. There are loads of great ways to make one, but here is my and my partner’s current favourite recipe which we often have for lunch and dinner whenever we are in the mood for curry time. It’s pretty quick and easy to rustle up. Using chicken thighs and ingredients that you are likely to have at home anyway, or are inexpensive to purchase, making it a very reasonable option, too. #thriftyp

This curry should leave your mouth full of lovely spice, tomatoeness and fragrant coriander.

(Serving 4)

Ingredients:

Chicken Chopped into small cubes (I prefer thighs, more taste and stay tender for longer but you can use breast if you wish. That option still works well, keep in mind thighs are much cheaper!)
Lime Juice (Either from a bottle or fresh lime)
Paprika
Salt & Pepper
Garlic cloves
Ground Chilli
Ground Cardamom
Ground Cinnamon
Ground Ginger
Ground Turmeric
Ground Coriander
Ground Cumin
Fresh coriander
Garam masala
1 red bell pepper
1 medium tomato (chopped into eighths)
1 Medium Onion (finely chopped)

Tin of red kidney beans (drain before using)
Tin of chopped tomatoes

Basmati or Pilau rice to serve

Method

  1. Marinate your chicken. Now you don’t have to do this a day or so in advance, but I highly recommend doing so. If you do get the chance you should find the chicken takes on the flavours much better, and may also be more tender when it comes to the cooking process. So take your chicken and put it in a bowl with a tbsp of lime juice and a tbsp of paprika. Then season with salt and pepper. Now give it a good mix until all of the chicken is evenly coated. If you are marinating in advance, cover the bowl and pop into your fridge until you begin cooking.
  1. Just like many-a-great recipe, start by frying your chopped onion in a little oil (just enough to cover your wok’s base) until it becomes translucent. Now add in your chopped garlic and the following spices:

Ground Cardamom
Ground Cinnamon
Ground Ginger
Ground Turmeric
Ground Coriander
Ground Cumin
Garam Masala

Cook this off to release the flavours for a couple of minutes. Next, add your chicken and cook this until it’s just cooked through. Now add in your peppers and cook until just starting to soften. If you prefer them very soft, you can put them. in before the chicken. Next, add your tin of tomatoes. Don’t worry if your can has quite a bit of juice, this will help form the gravy. Give this a good mix, then turn it down to a simmer, stirring regularly. Also taste regularly, if you think it needs a bit more spice or herbs, add it in. If you are concerned that it’s not becoming thick and staying watery too long, add a small amount of tomato paste until it thickens. As this is a tomato-based curry anyway doing this will not harm the flavour.

3. Now, when you feel there are only 5 minutes left until your curry is ready, add in your fresh tomatoes and chopped fresh coriander. You don’t want to do this early otherwise you run the risk of losing the freshness of both ingredients, and the tomatoes can become mushy and disintegrate into the rest of the curry. Serve with your chosen rice and hopefully enjoy a lot!

Let me know if you have tried this recipe and how it came out, or if you have any suggestions for what I could try. This is quite a basic straight forward curry that was formed from trying various recipes and settling on our favourite ingredients and coking methods. You can adapt this in many ways.

Hints:

If you fancy a milder curry, go with a mild chilli powder or add less of a stronger one. Chilli powder flavour goes pretty far. You can even add no chilli as the Garam masala contains Cayenne Pepper which will still provide a kick.

Tweak all the ingredients and their amounts to your personal tastes, and if you are making for more or fewer people don’t forget to change the ratios accordingly.

As mentioned, you can use chicken breast which I do like, however overall I prefer thighs as I like the taste and texture of them in this curry. Also, with breast meat, you contend with a greater risk of the breast becoming dry through the cooking process.

I like the curry to have just enough gravy to coat everything but not be swimming in it. Adjust to how you like it (cook it down for longer for less, take it off the hob earlier for more.


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