An Alternative Tomato Chicken Curry

Making curries are easy if you have a lot of spices in your cupboard! This is a great recipe if you're feeding a house or family, as you can adopt a "shove it all in" technique. You can pretty much use any vegetables or meat, I often put peas in if I have no vegetables. Any leftovers can be eaten hot or cold the following day in a pitta or wrap.

Ingredients (serves 6)

for the curry -

5 chicken breasts, chopped into similar sized pieces

2 courgettes, chopped

2 large peppers, chopped

1 onion, sliced

6 large tomatoes, chopped into four

1 large knob of ginger, grated

4 garlic cloves, grated or crushed

half a deseeded chilli (or chilli flakes), more if you like it spicy!

1 tbsp korma paste, or other curry paste

juice of half a lemon

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 tsp garlic infused oil or any oil

1 tbsp mango chutney

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp paprika

3 cardamon pods, seeds crushed in a pestle and mortar

large bunch of fresh coriander with stalks, roughly chopped

for the rice -

600ml chicken stock (200ml is for the curry and 400ml for the rice)

2 mugs basmati rice

2 tsp turmeric

4 cardamon pods, whole

1. Start by putting all the ingredients for the curry into a large bowl (without the stock and fresh coriander) and mix well. You can do this in advance and place the curry in the fridge to marinade, or simply cook straight after mixing. 

2. You will need a large wok or deep pan to cook the curry. Pour all the curry mix into the pan and cook on a medium heat, continually stirring for 10 minutes. Then add 200ml of stock as well as the fresh coriander, and cook for a further 10 minutes, until the chicken is fully cooked.

3. The rice should take roughly the same time as the curry. Put the rice into a large frying pan, stir in the turmeric and cardamon pods and then pour over the stock until it just covers the rice. Place a clear lid on top and cook on a high heat until it starts boiling. Then turn down the heat to very low and simmer for 15 minutes without removing the lid.

4. I like to serve my curries with naan bread, yoghurt, chopped banana and mango chutney.

So easy, delicious and healthy.