Curry can be as simple as opening a jar of curry sauce or making from scratch with lots of spices. It can also have as much or as little meat in it as you like. See below for tip if you normally cook chicken curry and would like to start adding chickpeas and vegetables.
Ingredients
2 skinless chicken breasts (or 6 chicken thighs which are cheaper, tastier and very easy to de-bone) cut into 3cm chunks (optional)
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
Approx 600g veg eg diced butternut squash, peas, chopped red pepper, mushrooms, courgettes
2 onions
2 cloves garlic/garlic powder or garlic puree (optional)
vegetable oil
Sauce:
1 jar ready made curry/korma sauce
or
2 heaped tablespoons korma paste & 50g ground almonds (optional) & 500ml any type of stock
or
2 teaspoons curry powder & 1 tin tomatoes or coconut milk
or
2 teaspoons combined cumin, coriander, turmeric, ginger & chilli powders plus 1 tin tomates or coconut milk
Garnish (optional):
mango chutney, plain natural yoghurt, chopped fresh coriander
Steps:
- Drizzle 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil into a pan, add the onions and cook till golden.
- Stir in korma paste/curry powder/spices and cook for a further minute.
- Add diced chicken/veg to the pan with 50g of ground almonds (if using), stirring well to coat. Sweat for a couple of minutes.
- Tip in jar of sauce or 500ml stock (if you’re using korma paste or curry powder) or tin tomato or coconut milk and 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas (juices and all), then cook for 8 minutes, stirring regularly.
- When the chicken/veg is cooked through (take a piece out, cut it in half and check it isn’t pink in the middle) and the sauce has thickened, check the flavour.
- Add more curry powder/spices if required. You can also season with salt, pepper or lemon juice.
Inspired by Jamie Oliver’s Mild Chicken, Chickpea & Squash recipe
Top tip: If you normally cook chicken in a korma sauce, and you’re new to using chickpeas and other veg, the easiest way to start is to cook your diced chicken with your korma sauce as usual and simply add a tin of chickpeas (include the chickpea liquid if you want to stretch your sauce).
