Tom Kerridge’s chip shop curry sauce

Could there be anything finer to dredge Christmas leftovers in than a punchy, homemade, better-than-shop-bought chip shop curry sauce? Plus, it’s also brilliant served as a katsu sauce.

Serves 6-8 Prep 20 mins Cook 1 hr

50g butter

2 large onions, sliced

4 garlic cloves, sliced thumb-sized piece ginger, sliced 3 tbsp mild curry powder

1 tsp turmeric

50g raisins

3 tbsp malt vinegar

1 star anise

500ml chicken stock or vegetable

stock for vegetarians

2 tbsp cornflour lemon juice, to taste

1 Heat the butter in a large pan over a medium-low heat and tip in the onions, garlic and ginger and fry for 12-15 mins until soft but not coloured. Stir in the curry powder, turmeric, raisins, vinegar and star anise, and fry for 1 min more, then pour in the stock, bring to the boil and simmer very gently for 30 mins, stirring so it doesn’t catch on the pan.

2 Lift out the star anise, mix the cornflour with 2 tbsp water and stir into the sauce. Simmer for 5 mins, stirring constantly until you have a thickened silky sauce. Pour into a blender and blitz until smooth, or use a hand blender. Squeeze in lemon juice to taste. Use this sauce to make a curry for your Christmas leftovers whether it’s sprouts, turkey, or simple roast potatoes. If freezing the sauce, leave to cool, pour into a container and freeze, then defrost and reheat when you’re ready to eat.

PER SERVING (8) 124 kcals, fat 6g, saturates 3g, carbs 13g, sugars 8g, fibre 3g, protein 3g, salt 0.3g

Ladle the curries into containers, leave to cool, then pop on the lids, label, date, and freeze. When you’re ready to defrost, take out of the freezer two days before you need it and thaw out in the fridge.