Chicken cashew curry
The shortest day is behind us and the days are now stretching out (slightly) longer into the evenings, but there is nothing like ending a cold wet day with a comforting bowl of chicken curry.
This recipe is made using homemade garam masala, for which there is no substitute – do not use the store-bought kind. It adds a wonderful depth and complexity to this dish.
Serve it with rice, a bowl of yoghurt plus some sliced banana and you’ll be sure to start your evening right. FOOD
In a heavy-bottomed frying pan over a medium-high heat toast each spice separately (except for the nutmeg) until fragrant.
Grind together in a spice grinder then store in an airtight container. Serves 6 Preparation: 10 minutes Cooking: 30 minutes 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 onions, quartered, finely sliced 750g chicken thighs, cut into bitesized pieces 1 tablespoons coriander seeds 2 teaspoons cumin seeds 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds 1 teaspoon maple syrup or brown sugar 1 teaspoon salt 2 x 400g tins tomatoes
teaspoon chilli flakes 3 cloves garlic, finely grated on a microplane/minced
Thumb-sized piece ginger, finely grated 2 teaspoons garam masala
cup yoghurt 150g raw cashew nuts, ground (I did this in batches in a spice grinder)
Coriander or mint to garnish In a heavy-bottomed frying pan heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and over a medium heat fry the onion until caramelised.
This will take about 25-30 minutes.
While the onion is cooking toast the coriander, cumin and fenugreek seeds separately in a heavy-bottomed frying pan until fragrant then grind in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and fry the chicken in batches until cooked through.
Return the chicken to the pan, along with the onions, toasted ground spices, maple syrup/brown sugar, salt, tomatoes and chilli flakes.
Cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the garlic, ginger, garam masala, yoghurt and ground cashew nuts.
Serve garnished with coriander.
For this chicken cashew curry, toast and grind your own spices - it’s well worth the effort.
Recipes, food styling and photography by EmmaBoyd