Chicken Curry

Tonight’s dinner was a chicken curry by Ben O’Donoghue inspired by all of the Indian restaurants in London’s East End. The recipe appeared in a recent delicious magazine. Its quite easy to make & produces a lovely light curry, a little spicy – I omitted the seeds to you could really heat it up by leaving them all in. I love all types of curry & am constantly trying new recipes, this is a goodie

Chicken Curry

5 long red chillies, seeds removed (or leave in for a hotter curry)
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
8 garlic cloves, crushed
2-3 lemons, juiced
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
1.5kg free range chicken, cur into 8 pieces, skin removed (I actually used thigh fillets)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 onions, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons coriander seeds, crushed
12 dried curry leaves
1 tablespoon chopped coriander, plus extra to garnish
½ Lebanese cucumber
100g plain yoghurt
steamed rice, to serve

Puree the chillies in a food processor, add a little oil if necessary. Place the chillies in a bowl with the garlic, lemon juice, turmeric & chicken, stir it all up & cover & leave to marinate while doing the next stage.

In a large deep frypan that has a lid, fry cumin seeds in oil over medium heat for 1 minute until fragrant. Add onion, fry for 5 minutes or until soft, then stir in coriander seeds for a further minute. Add 2 teaspoons of cracked black pepper & curry leaves with the chicken & all of the marinade, turning evenly to coat. Cover, reduce heat to low & cook for 30-40 minutes, turning occasionally until chicken is cooked through.

Combine the coriander, cucumber & yoghurt in a bowl. Serve curry on steamed rice with yghut mixture & garnish with extra coriander.