I do enjoy a good curry, and being typically British, the hotter the better. No takeaway can make one hot enough for me, so I have had a couple of stabs at making one entirely from scratch at home. Boy; Is it worth it. Not only do you save a packet of cash, but it’s much healthier, and far tasier.

I suggest only those with a cast-iron stomach try this one. There are suggestions below for reducing the heat if you prefer. Serve with wholegrain rice.

Ingredients

• 3 large chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 large sweet potato, skinned and cubed
• 150g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 4 large bell peppers (red/green/yellow/orange), seeded and sliced
• 600g (20 or so) fresh on-the-vine tomatoes, quartered
• 4 scotch bonnet chillies, sliced (seeds in)
• 20 red finger chillies, topped
• 6 medium red & green chillies, diced
• 1 head of garlic (10 or so cloves)
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp cayenne chilli pepper
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 0.5 tsp fenugreek
• 4 curry leaves
• 4 lime leaves
• juice of 2 lemons
• lots of fresh corriander
• lightly cracked black pepper

Method

1. Blend together 500g (15 or so) of the tomatoes, 1/4 of the chopped onion, 1 scotch bonnet, 1 tbsp olive oil, brown sugar, 2 curry leaves, 2 lime leaves, majority of the corriander and all spices. This will form the curry sauce.
2. Warm olive oil in large non-stick wok, just below the smoke point.
3. Add onion and fry for 3-4 minutes until soft and golden.
4. Add garlic and fry for 30 seconds more.
5. Add chicken, turn heat to max and brown for 3 minutes or so.
6. Pour in the blended sauce and mix well. Heat until simmering then reduce.
7. Add remainder of ingredients, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
8. Remove lid and allow to reduce as necessary. Do not cook for more than 30 minutes.

Comments

To reduce the heat of this significantly, deseed and vein the scotch bonnets. If you like your curries at a temperature that may will remove the enamel off of your plate and disolve your spoon, then the recipe as given should please.

Anyone who has purchased “Innocent Veg Pots” before would do well to keep the pots. This recipe as given will make approx 5 pots worth, with approximately 550 calories per pot. For added fibre, mix in some Jordan’s Oat Bran shells (70p in Tesco). Each heaped tablespoon will add 13 calories to the dish but 4g of fibre! If the pots are sealed hot and refrigerated within 3 hours of sealing, these pots will easily keep 5 days in the fridge and get hotter as time goes by. Suitable for freezing, microwaving and conventional reheating by stove (I’d strongly suggest removing from the Veg Pot before cooking on the stove though…)

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 11:47 pm and is filed under Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.