A Simple quick Curry

Da Vinci once said simplicity is the ultimate sophistication and I’m inclined to agree. So many people can’t make a good curry, and even more resort to jars and tins and pre made pastes.  This is a really simple quick curry recipe my nana Perveen taught me how to make when I was younger, half my family are from the middle east and my nana lived there for about 15 years when she met my granda so she knows her stuff.

This is a standard curry sauce; you can add any meat or some butternut squash, veggies or lentils for a veggie curry.  I’ll only say one thing about the meat, if your using chicken don’t just put raw chicken in unless it’s really good quality.  It won’t taste of anything; it’ll just be a texture in your mouth.  I always roast a whole chicken and pick the meat off, shredding it and adding it to the curry half way through.  It has so much flavour and is cheaper than breasts as you can pick a good quality chicken up for £6 to feed 4 people and the last I checked two breasts were pushing a fiver.

Ingredients
will feed 4

1 tsp mustard seeds

1tsp fenugreek
2 chilies, sliced
1tsp turmeric
1tsp coriander seeds
1tsp garam masala
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic chopped fine or grated
1x 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, chopped fine or grated
2 chilies, chopped fine seeds in or out whatever you prefer
1 tin of 400g tin tomatoes
1 tin of 400ml tin coconut milk (it doesn’t make the curry taste of coconut don’t worry it just adds richness, if you really don’t want to add it just use 2x tomatoes)
 salt and pepper
Oil
1 bag of spinach

MEAT: 1 cooked chicken, 6 raw tiger prawns per person, leftovers from your Sunday roast beef/lamb/pork or some veggies and lentils for a veggie curry

Method

Get a frying pan hot and add the mustard seeds. Once they start to pop which is about 10 seconds put them in a bowl and add the coriander to the pan. Toast the coriander seeds for a minute or so to release their flavors. Shake the pan to make sure they don’t burn and again set aside to allow to cool.

Finely dice the onion and add it to a large saucepan with the garlic and ginger and oil.

Sweat on a low heat for around 10 minutes.

While this is happening crush your spices which will be cool by now.

Once they are crushed and the 10 minutes have passed turn the heat up, add the crushed spices, the fenugreek, turmeric, garam masla, and chili to the pan and stir constantly over a high heat.  This is an essential stage as all spices need to be hard fried to release their potential.  Literally 20 seconds will do it, stirring all the time to coat the onions.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add the tomatoes and coconut milk to the pan immediately with about 100mls of water.

Give everything a good stir.

Simmer for 10 minutes then add your meat whatever you are using. (Unless you are using prawns as they only take minutes to cook so don’t add them until 5 minutes before the end)

Simmer for another 10 minutes.

While this is happening add your spinach to a food processor or stick blend to a puree (you might need a little water to help you along)

You should be left with a green liquid sludge.

Add this to the pan (add your raw prawns now if making a prawn curry)

Simmer for more minutes then serve with rice, naan, whatever you like.

All in all this is just over 30 minutes for an authentic and totally delicious curry.

Chicken pie from This Morning

This recipe is nothing new, a simple chicken pie but sometimes there’s nothing better than crumbly homemade buttery pastry encasing moist chicken fragranced with tarragon and mingling with creamy leeks! 

The white wine really sets off the filling and the cream adds richness!  This pie can even be made out of leftovers, the day after you have a roast chicken try making this with the leftover meat picked from the bones, 

Normal chicken stock is fine if you don’t have the time to make fresh chicken stock but please do try it if you can, its FREE to make as you use the carcass from a roast chicken that you would usually throw away!Ok here goes.

 Ingredients
makes 1 9inch by 6 inch pie which will serve 4-6
For the pastry use the short crust recipe I have posted under the baking section.  Double the quantities for this pie.
For the filling:
vegetable oil
2 small leeks cleaned and sliced
A handful of chestnut mushrooms, sliced
400-600g of raw boneless chicken pieces or you can use the meat picked from a leftover roasted chicken (which is my preference for this pie)
1 garlic clove
100ml white wine
50mls of chicken stock
150ml double cream
A sprig of fresh tarragon, leaves picked and roughly chopped
1 egg for egg washing
Method
Pre heat the oven to gas mark 7 (220)
Make the pastry as per the pastry instructions under the baking section.
When its resting in the fridge make the filling.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the leeks and garlic and cook gently for 5-10 minutes until softened.
Turn the heat up and add the mushroom.  Fry for a few minutes stiring constantly so the leeks don’t butn.
Add the chicken pieces and cook, stirring, for another 4-5 minutes until just browned.  If you are using already cooked chicken pieces from a roast chicken just add them and stir in for a few seconds.
Add the wine and bubble away until reduced slightly.
Pour in the stock and reduce slightly.
Add the cream and tarragon, bring to the boil, then simmer for 5-6 minutes until thickened.
Season with salt and pepper then set aside to cool.
The mix should be wet but not too sloppy or liquid.

Right back to the pastry.
Once you have rested the pastry cut it into 2 pieces, one slightly bigger than the other.
Roll out the larger piece of pastry to the size of your pie dish, I like to use a roasting tin lined with baking parchment so I can lift the pie out once its cooked.  Its also cool to use a quiche tin (loose bottomed)  If you are using this no need to line with baking parchment as its loose botttomed so it will lift out easily enough.
Grease the edges of the pie dish with butter.
Line the baking tin with the pastry so it overhands the edges! 
Fill the pastry case with the pie filling.
Now roll the second piece of the pastry out and fit this over the top of the pie. (wet the edges of the pastry case before putting the lid on this will help it to stick.)
Knock and crimp the edges of the pie together, this basically means sticking the top of the pastry to the bottom of the pastry, squeeze it together gently until the top and bottom pieces of pastry are joined and sealed.
Beat the egg with a little salt, then brush over the pastry lightly which will make the pastry golden.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until the pastry is golden.  Remember everything is cooked inside so you are just cokoing the pastry.
Remove from the oven and serve straight from the dish with mash and greens.  Alternatively if you have lined a baking tin with parchment lift the pie out and slice at the table! YUM! 

Sin free creamy chicken hotpot with garlic potatoes

This is the dish i did on This Morning in early January, i was asked to come up with a dish suitable for the new year slimmers but still to keep it comforting.  I simply changed my tried and tested chicken hotpot into relatively sin free by using fat free creme fraiche.  The wine adds a wonderful balanace of acitidy.

The filling can easily be used in a pie if you fancy a bit of stodge.

IngredientsServes 4

2 large potatoes

1 large leek, cleaned

1 clove of garlic

A sprig of thyme

100mls of low fat Crème fraiche

50mls or thereabouts of chicken stock

A handful or so of Parmesan cheese (optional)

250g frozen peas

450g cooked chicken (use leftovers from a roast or roast off some thighs and drummers)

Oil, salt and pepper

Method

Pre heat the oven to gas mark 7 (220)

In a large roasting tray, scatter the cooked chicken and peas.

Slice and sweat the leek in a little oil in a frying pan until soft. Add the thyme.

Stir in the crème fraiche and the chicken stock, if you like more sauce add more chicken stock, around another 50mls should be fine.

Pour the leek and garlic mix over the chicken and peas.

Next move onto the potatoes.

Thinly slice the potatoes and put them in a bowl.

Crush the clove of garlic and add to the bowl with some salt and pepper.

Toss to coat the potatoes.

Lay the potatoes over the top of the roasting tray, brush (or spray) with a little olive oil to give the potatoes colour.

Sprinkle with the parmesan if you are using.

Pop in the oven for 35 minutes with foil over the top, then 20 minutes with the foil off to crisp up the potatoes

Serve at the table with some steamed fresh greens.