Henri - Curry

Slow Cooker – One-pot and Casserole

Catherine Atkinson and Jenni Fleetwood

Chicken in a Cashew Nut Sauce

 

Home for the weekend and it’s a Saturday night in with all of my family - nothing is better than a curry to spice things up before the X Factor! My sister and her husband have just had a baby and invited us over for the evening, but to save them having to cook, mum and I decided to make dinner to take over (whilst my dad relaxed watching the rugby I’ll add). After hours of deliberation we chose a curry – pretty easy and absolutely scrummy! Usually cooking at home isn’t that much fun since mum gets quite possessive over her kitchen, but nonetheless this time we worked like a dream-team, making a fab curry. However, the car journey over was horrible with our stomachs grumbling the whole way! Arriving at Nick and Anna's we had time to prepare the yoghurt whilst we heated the curry through - a perfect accompaniment if you have members of the dinner party who prefer less heat in a curry. Needless to say, dinner was delicious and enjoyed by all (and X Factor didn't fail to amuse either). We were rather greedy and had everything that goes with a curry, including naan, papadumns and mango chutney. But it just had to be done!

Ingredients

1 large onion, diced

2-3 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp tomato purée

½ cup cashews – I replaced these with flaked almonds

½ tsp garam masala

1 tsp chilli powder

¼ tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp natural yoghurt

2 tbsp olive oil

450g chicken breast fillets, skinned and cubed

2 ½ cups of button mushrooms, chopped

1 tbsp sultanas

300ml chicken stock

2 tbsp coriander, roughly chopped (extra for garnish)

570ml plain yoghurt

2 tbsp coriander, chopped

½ green chilli, finely chopped and seeds removed if you wish

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

To serve

Pilau rice

Naan bread

Papadums

Method

Chop the onion. Combine with the garlic, tomato purée, almonds, garam masala, chilli powder, turmeric, salt, lemon juice and yoghurt in a food processor and blitz to a coarse paste.

Heat the oil in a large pan or casserole dish and fry the chicken until golden brown. Using a slotted spoon remove the chicken, transferring to a plate.

Add the paste to the same pan, heating through, and then mix in the mushrooms. Lower the heat and fry gently, stirring frequently for a few minutes.

Stir in the chicken, sultanas and chicken stock, and then season to taste with salt and pepper. If using a frying pan, transfer to an ovenproof dish – if not cover the casserole dish – and place in the oven for approximately an hour. The chicken should be cooked through and the sauce thickened.

Stir through the chopped coriander and season further according to your taste.

Preparing the yoghurt was simple. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and stir through until creamy.

Approximately 20 minutes before you are ready to serve, prepare the rice. Serve alongside naan bread and papadums with mango chutney.