Chicken
Chicken and red pepper curry with aromatic yellow rice
As curry dishes go this is one of the simpler ones, yet the flavours are delicate and the result delicious. It can be simplified even more by starting off with pre-diced chicken. This is a good recipe for kids or those who are cautious of spice – but ramp up the heat if you like!
Ingredients
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- 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3 red peppers, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
- 1 heaped tsp ground coriander
- 1 heaped tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1kg chicken, leg or thigh meat, diced into generous cubes
- grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 100g ground almonds
- large bunch of fresh coriander or flat leaf parsley, chopped
for the rice
- 250g basmati rice
- 600ml water
- 1 heaped tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 cloves, 6 cardamom pods
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 50g butter, cubed
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Place the onion, ginger, garlic, red pepper, ground coriander, ground cumin, cayenne and 2 teaspoons of salt into a food processor, process to a paste.
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Step 2
Place the olive oil in a large sauté pan, preferably one that has a lid, and sauté the chicken pieces briefly to seal and colour to golden over a fairly high heat.
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Step 3
Reduce heat and stir in the curry paste, allow to cook down for 30 minutes with the lid on, stirring occasionally. Now remove the lid and add juice of the lemon and some pepper and the ground almonds which will enrich the sauce.
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Step 4
Cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, by which time the chicken pieces will be cooked. Check the seasoning and add more seasoning if necessary.
For the rice
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Step 1
place all the ingredients, except the butter, in a saucepan with a lid. Bring to the boil, reduce to lowest heat and put on the lid. After about 10 minutes check the rice, if the water level is below the level of the rice then turn off the heat and replace the lid and leave to stand for at least 10 minutes - the rice will be cooked perfectly, without going sticky, and will remain hot for quite some time.
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Step 2
Remove the spices from the rice and fold in the butter cubes. Divide the rice between 6 warmed plates. Add the fresh herbs and the lemon zest to the curry, fold in, and spoon the chicken over the rice.
