Creamy Korma-esqe chicken curry

Sometimes lovely meals appear on a whim.  I was just going to have bog-standard chicken and pasta tonight, but then my chilli pepper plant caught my eye and I decided I wanted curry.  The chicken was already out of the freezer, but creamy luxurious curry from stuff that I've got in store?  No problem.

First of all, peel and chop an onion and a couple of garlic cloves, and slice up a couple of mushrooms and some chilli peppers.  You can add heat using dried chilli flakes or cayenne pepper if you prefer.

Get them all going in vegetable oil over a low heat for about six minutes - just to get some colour on.  Not too hot or they'll burn - on my cooker, I left it on minimum heat over one of the larger gas rings.

While that's going on, you can cut your chicken breasts up into bite-sized pieces.

This is probably a good time to get a pan of water on the boil for your rice.  Basmati rice goes well with curry, and it normally cooks in about 10-12 minutes depending on the brand.

While that's slowly cooking away, get your spice mix ready.  This is a vaguely korma-esque spice mix consisting of one heaped teaspoonful each of ground cumin,  ground coriander, garam masala and turmeric, with the seeds from inside four cardamom pods, bashed up a bit in a pestle and mortar (or whatever you have to hand - rolling pins are good.  Or the base of a pan).  Chuck in a good pinch of salt, too.

Add the spices to the pan and stir everything around so that the onion and mushroom get completely coated.  I just love this moment when the spices hit the pan - it smells fantastic.

Next, add two tablespoonfuls of tomato puree, stir it around, and add the chicken.  Turn the heat up a bit and stir until the chicken's taken on some colour.

Assuming your rice wants the 10-12 minute range to cook, now's the time to put it in the pan of boiling water.

With that done, add a really generous sprinkling of ground almonds to the chicken and (on a whim - they were next to the almonds in the cupboard) a good sprinkling of poppy seeds.

Mix everything up , then add about 500ml hot water from the kettle - enough to nearly cover the chicken.  Get the water to a simmer - bubbles regularly breaking the surface, but not a roiling boil - and let it all cook for a while.

When the rice is nearly cooked, add 100ml cream to the chicken.  This isn't strictly necessary (and certainly not WeightWatchers approved) but it's damn tasty and anyway I had cream leftover from the carbonara the other night - it only would have gone in the bin otherwise.

Serve on rice and enjoy. 

Taste verdict
Granted, there may have been an element of flattery involved but my girlfriend really enthused about this one!  I was pleased as well.  I've had worse from Indian takeaways.  The sauce fulfilled the brief of creamy and luxurious, and because most of the cooking's done on a low heat the chicken kept a nice moist texture.

Financial verdict
Two large chicken breasts - these came from the butcher and I can't remember how much they cost.  Generally speaking, the butcher carries good quality meat and charges slightly less than the supermarkets for equivalent quality.  Waitrose and Sainsbury's both charge around £15/kilo for free range breasts, so let's say about £6.  Of course, the butcher sells whole chickens at two for a tenner so if you don't mind the effort of preparing it yourself you can bring this down a fair old bit.
100ml cream - 55p
Some mushrooms - 20p
An onion - 20p
200g rice - 30p
Garlic, chilli, cumin, coriander, turmeric, salt, cardamom, tomato puree, ground almonds, poppy seeds - pennies, from store.

These quantities made two really generous main meals, plus three more slightly smaller ones which are now rapidly cooling in the freezer making £1.45 per portion.


The skinny
Peel and chop an onion and two cloves of garlic

Slice a couple of mushrooms and chilli peppers

Start the onion, mushroom and chilli cooking in a frying pan in veg oil over a low heat

Start a separate pan of water on the boil for the rice

Prepare the spice mix: put a heaped teaspoonful each of ground cumin, coriander, garam masala and turmeric in a ramekin and add the seeds from four cardamom pods, bashed up in a pestle and mortar, and a good pinch of salt

Start cooking 200g basmati rice in the boiling water

Add the spice mix to the frying pan and mix until the onion is all coated

Add two tablespoonfuls tomato puree to the frying pan and mix it around

Add the chicken, diced into bite-sized pieces, and cook until browned on all sides

Add a generous sprinkling of chopped almonds and a rather smaller one of poppy seeds

Add about 500ml hot water and simmer for a while

When the rice is nearly cooked, add 100ml cream to the chicken and stir

Carrying on simmering until the rice is done, then serve