Hot and Spicy Chicken Curry

I know B may say otherwise, but I do make curries other than butter chicken!! Much to my families initial shock that their most FAVOURITE chicken dish wasn't being served for dinner, I was pleasantly surprised to see their plates licked clean. Miss 4 even asked for more chicken!

The heading does say" Hot and Spicy" but that's really up to the individual as to wheather or not they put the whole teaspoon of chilli into the dish or not. I opted for half a teaspoon but probably could have done the whole teaspoon as my kids seem to have developed some daring taste buds lately. The flavours were lovely and even though alot of the spices that were used were very similar to the butter chicken it had an entirely different taste which was a nice change. I found every ingredient I needed in the supermarket, so there are no excuses about not being able to find anything.

The only thing I added that wasn't on the list was a tablespoon of cornflour, as it states in the recipe that the curry will thicken, well this didn't exactly happen to I decided to help it along. It turned out perfectly and everyone was very happy with the end result.

With these cold nights now upon us this curry was a nice warm tasty dish! Hope you like it.

You will need:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1.8kg chicken thigh fillets, halved
1 large brown onion, sliced thinly
4 cloves garlic, crushed
3cm piece fresh ginger, grated
10 curry leaves
400g can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
10cm stick fresh lemon grass, bruised
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 cup loosely packed fresh coriander leaves

Spice Blend
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
11/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon hot chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon ground fennel
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamon
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
Salt and Pepper

1. Spice Blend - Combine Spices in a small bowl

2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large saucepan, cook chicken, in batches, until browned.

3. Heat remaining oil in same pan, cook onion, stirring, until soft. Add garlic, ginger and curry leaves, cook, stirring, until fragrant. Add spice blend, cook, stirring about 2 minutes or until fragrant.

4. Stir in chicken, undrained tomatoes, stock and lemon grass, bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, simmer covered, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes. Uncover and simmer about 10 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly. Discard lemon grass.

5. Add coconut milk, stir until heated through. Sprinkle with coriander.

Enjoy! M x