Love a curry? Who doesn’t!
And they’re perfect to batch-make for a big family for a few days!
Why not try Anna Haugh’s dreamy Wednesday Night Curry!
Ingredients
Serves 2
For the chicken and marinade
250g skinless boneless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into bite-sized cubes
½ garlic clove, crushed
1 teaspoon finely grated root ginger
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
½ teaspoon hot paprika, or to taste
3 tablespoons thick Greek-style yogurt, plus more (optional) to serve
juice of ¼ lemon
sea salt
For the curry
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
5cm thumb of root ginger, finely grated
2 green cardamom pods, crushed
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon hot chilli powder, or to taste
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
2 onions, finely chopped
400g can of chopped tomatoes, or 8 fresh tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato purée
1 red pepper, cut into bite-sized cubes
100g butternut squash, cut into bite-sized cubes
400g can of coconut milk
1–2 tablespoons sugar, to taste
juice of 1–2 limes, to taste
coriander leaves, to serve
Method
Mix the chicken and all the marinade ingredients well together in a bowl with a pinch of sea salt, then cover and leave to marinate for 10–20 minutes.
Put the oil in a large casserole pot over a medium heat. Add your garlic and ginger and cook for 2 minutes, then stir in the spices until they are aromatic. Then tip in your chopped onions. Cook until the onions are sweet. Don’t skip this step: the onions being cooked until their sugars are properly released make a huge difference to the final curry.
When the onions are ready, add your tomatoes and tomato purée and cook for 20 minutes.
Now add your red pepper and butternut squash and cook for 10 minutes, or until the squash pieces are tender.
Finally, add your chicken and its marinade and cook for 10 minutes.
Pour in the coconut milk and taste: this is where you can create magic. When you taste your curry, ask yourself: is it hot enough? If not, add some extra chilli powder gradually. (If it’s too spicy, see below.) And salt! Don’t forget to taste in case you need a little extra salt. And as for sweetness and acidity balance, use your judgement about how much sugar and lime juice to add, to round out the flavours.
Rip over the coriander leaves and ripple with more yogurt, if you like, both for a bit of visual drama and for that cool contrast to the spicy curry.
Serve with plain boiled rice and/or naan or other flatbread, as your curry will be bursting with flavour and the contrast of the plain rice or naan will complement and give relief, so each bite is even more delicious.
Tricks of the trade
Curry too spicy? Well, just add some sugar and maybe a dash of cream, or coconut cream, if you have it, then taste and adjust again until you’re happy with the flavour.
This freezes so well that making a bigger batch is a great idea, to keep for a day when you don’t feel like cooking.
Recipe taken from Cooking with Anna by Anna Haugh