Serves 2 / Difficulty Medium / Prep 20 mins & cooked in 30 mins
A delicious, quick and easy no fuss curry dish. Great for a mid-week evening meal. If you like your vegetables crunchy then cook them for just 15 minutes, but I prefer them nice and soft to blend in with the chicken. Deseed the chillies depending on how spicy you like your food.
Shopping list for 2 people
Ghee – 2-4 tbsp
For the chicken
Long green chillies – 6
Chicken breasts – 4
Garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped – 2
Ripe tomatoes, chopped – 3
Ground cumin – 1 tbsp
Garam masala – 1 tbsp
Ground turmeric – 1 tsp
Flaked sea salt – 1 tsp
Cold water – 200ml
Natural yoghurt – 2 tbsp
For the vegetables
Medium onion, cut into 12 wedges – 1
Green pepper, deseeded and cut into rough 3cm chunks – 1
Tomatoes, quartered – 2
Cornflour – 2 tsp
Water – 1 tbsp
Method
Heat half the ghee in a frying pan and stir-fry the onion, pepper and tomatoes over a low heat for about 30 minutes, stir occasionally until the vegetables have softened.
While the veg is cooking finely chop 4 of the chillies – deseed a couple or all of them first if you don’t like very spicy food. Split the other 2 chillies from stalk to tip on 1 side without opening or removing the seeds. Cut each chicken breast into bite-sized chunks.
Heat the rest of the ghee in a large wok over a medium heat. Add the garlic, chopped chillies, chopped tomatoes, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, sugar and salt, then stir-fry for 3–4 minutes until the vegetables soften. Don’t let the garlic or spices burn or they will add a bitter flavour to the sauce.
Next, add the chicken pieces and whole chillies and cook for 3 minutes, turning the chicken regularly. Pour over the 200ml of water, stir in the yoghurt and reduce the heat only slightly – you want the sauce to simmer. Cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally until the chicken is tender and cooked through and the sauce has reduced by about a third. The yoghurt may separate to begin with but will disappear into the sauce.
Mix the cornflour with the tablespoon of water to form a smooth paste. When the chicken is cooked, stir in the cornflour mixture and simmer for a few seconds until the sauce thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat, add the hot stir-fried vegetables and toss together lightly.
Serve with some basmati rice.
