Category: coconut

Categories
chicken coconut curry food tomato

jamie oliver’s cornershop curry

cornershop curry

Unashamedly lifted from one of his YouTube videos, I had to write down Jamie Oliver’s cornershop curry as it’s a blinder. It’s not complicated, but I’ve made it twice and people have begged for more.

The whole thing is up there, but I’ve written it out below so I can make it again without having to watch the video! Go and check it out though, lots of classic Jamie shortcuts that don’t compromise on flavour. The gimmick is – as you may have guessed – is it is made from all store cupboard ingredients, or things easily found from your local convenience store. Jamie Oliver’s cornershop curry has now entered my regular rotation as a crowdpleaser. His approach is a fusion of traditional Indian flavours and techniques with a modern twist, making it a popular choice for UK home cooks and foodies alike.

My recommendation – not sponsored! – is to use Geeta’s mango chutney. It’s so good. Sweet but really heavily spiced, it builds a great base for this gravy and serve more on the side for dipping. Terrific!

I make one significant change: I brine the chicken breasts. If you have the time dunk your meat in salted water for a few hours beforehand; the chicken will be moist and so tasty. Very difficult to overcook too. Completely optional but I always do that if I’ve had time to prep.

By using ingredients that are readily available in most UK convenience stores, this dish is very accessible regardless of location or cooking experience. What’s great about Jamie Oliver’s cornershop curry recipe is that it can be easily adapted to suit different tastes and dietary requirements. For example, you can swap out the chicken for tofu or chickpeas to make it vegan or vegetarian-friendly. You can also adjust the level of spiciness to your liking, by adding a more potent curry paste. The versatility of this recipe makes it a go-to for busy weeknights or impromptu dinner plans, and the fact that it’s both delicious and nutritious is an added bonus.

Want more midweek curries? Try my turkey tikka, or this cauliflower and lentil curry. Or for more of a showstopper, my whole roast chicken katsu curry.

Print

jamie oliver's cornershop curry

A dead easy weeknight curry recipe you can knock out with common ingredients.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Keyword curry, easy
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Brining 6 hours
Servings 4
Calories 1300kcal
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

For the chicken and brine:

  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 1 star anise
  • table salt see method
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

For the curry sauce:

  • 1 tablespoon curry paste whatever you like
  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 4 cm piece of ginger
  • 1 large pepper deseeded and diced
  • 1 heaped tablespoon mango chutney
  • 400 g tinned tomatoes
  • 400 g light coconut milk

Instructions

For the brine:

  • Cover the chicken with a sheet of greaseproof paper, and bash them to about 2cm thick. Take a bowl deep enough to carry the chicken and put on scales. Fill with water and note the weight. Work out 6% of that weight (I usually shout at Google for the answer) and add that much salt. Add the star anise and turmeric, stir well and submerge the chicken. Leave in the brine between 3 and 6 hours.

For the curry sauce:

  • Peel and coarsely grate the onions, garlic and ginger. Put a large non-stick pan on a medium heat with 1 tablespoon of oil and the grated onion, garlic and ginger, stirring regularly.
  • After a few minutes add the pepper. Once the veg has softened, stir in the curry paste, followed by the mango chutney. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring regularly to avoid it catching and burning.
  • Add the tomatoes, breaking them up with a wooden spoon and scraping up any sticky bits from the base of the pan. Simmer for a few minutes.
  • Pour in the coconut milk then simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the consistency of your liking. You may wish to add a splash of water to get it right.
  • Drain and pat dry your chicken, discarding the brine ingredients. Either using a grill or frying pan, cook the chicken quickly on both sides over a high heat.
  • Remove the chicken to a board and thickly slice. If the chicken isn’t cooked through that's a good thing, as it will finish cooking in the sauce and not be overcooked. Stir the chicken slices into the simmering sauce for the last 5 minutes, or until cooked through. Season the sauce to your liking.
  • Serve the curry with rice and / or bread, and extra mango chutney.

Notes

You can sub out the protein for almost anything else, a piece of fish, cauliflower, tofu, seitan, whatever you want. Sub in a hotter paste for more fire in your belly.
Categories
black garlic chicken coconut curry garlic

black garlic and coconut chicken curry

Have you ever cooked with black garlic? It’s a sweeter, richer version of it’s whiter cousin. Sainsbury’s sent me some to try.

There’s no getting around it, it looks wrong. The flavour is very similar to regular garlic, but a bit like when you roast garlic cloves black garlic is a little sweeter and more intense. Wikipedia says it has balsamic vinegar-type flavours, and I can see that. The packet recommends eating it like a snack, but I’m not quite that antisocial. I did however get an idea to put it into a curry.

My black garlic and coconut curry uses leftover chicken from a roast as the main protein, but you could cook chicken separately and add to the pan, or use any leftover meat you like. It’d also be really good with some crispy tofu.

The garlic flavours are sweet and savoury at the same time, and coconut has similar properties so they’re really good together. You could use tinned coconut milk but I’m a big fan of powdered coconut milk as you can make up as much as you like, as rich as you like.

Thanks to Sainsbury’s sending some black garlic for me to try.

Print

black garlic and coconut chicken curry

Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

  • 400 g cooked chicken shredded
  • 2 tablespoons kecap manis
  • 1 inch ginger shredded
  • 3 cloves black garlic
  • 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
  • 1 onion sliced
  • 1 red pepper sliced
  • 400 ml coconut milk
  • 300 ml chicken stock
  • Handful of frozen peas

Instructions

  • In a bowl mash the black garlic with a fork and mix with the kecap manis, ginger and vinegar. Add the chicken and toss to coat thoroughly. Allow to mingle while you get on with the curry.
  • In a large frying pan heat a little oil over a high heat. Add the onions and peppers and stir fry until starting to soften. Add the chicken, coconut milk and chicken stock and bring to the boil. Add the peas and continue to cook until thickened. Adjust seasoning as required. Serve with rice and lime wedges.

Not enough curries for you?

Try Margot’s chicken korma

Or Nazima’s crab and coconut curry

Mabintu’s garlic and chickpea curry

More black garlic recipes

Michelle’s black garlic pate

Black garlic flatbreads

Black garlic and blue cheese bake

 

Categories
aubergine coconut courgettes creme fraiche cumin food lime rice tomato video

roasted vegetable chilli with parmesan wedges

Those lovely people at Vouchercodes.co.uk asked me to come up with a family-friendly money-saving recipe.  Just for them I made roasted vegetable chilli with parmesan wedges. They filmed it to boot. Watch the whole recipe below on YouTube:

Fun fact: I wasn’t going to make wedges, it was supposed to be polenta fingers. Unfortunately the wrong ingredients were delivered! Disaster. A quick rummage around the store cupboard and I settled on (what else) potatoes instead.

Make sure you pop along to see others in the series, such as Meemalee’s Burmese Chicken Noodles and Helen’s Blue Cheese and Fig Gnocchi.

My full recipe is below:

Print

roasted vegetable chilli with parmesan wedges

Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

  • 3 courgettes
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds heaped
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds heaped
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 red onion
  • 1 tin tomatoes
  • 2 red peppers
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika rounded
  • 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
  • 1 tin kidney beans
  • 300 g long-grain rice
  • 1 tin coconut milk
  • 4 baking potatoes
  • 2 tablespoons grated parmesan
  • 1 lime
  • 300 ml creme fraiche

Instructions

  • First the veg prep: peel and quarter the onion, thickly slice the courgette, half the peppers and deseed, and quarter the lime. Cut the potatoes into wedges.
  • Get a large casserole dish over a low heat, the oven on to 180C, and a saucepan over a medium heat.
  • Lay the wedges in a single layer on a baking tray. Scatter over half the parmesan with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes, turning occasionally.
  • Put the fennel seeds, cumin seeds, garlic and onion into the food processor with a pinch of salt and whizz to a paste, then add the tomatoes to blitz further. Add to the large casserole pan. Add the paprika and chilli powder.
  • Add the courgettes and peppers to the baking tray, season with salt, pepper and oil and put in the oven for 20 minutes until softened.
  • In the saucepan, dry fry the cumin seeds for a minute to get nice and aromatic, then add the kidney beans and their juices. Allow this to simmer away. After 5 minutes add it to the tomato pan.
  • Wipe out the kidney bean pan and add the rice and coconut milk. Simmer until the rice is tender, then leave covered until needed.
  • 5 minutes before they're done, scatter the remaining parmesan over the potatoes and allow to crisp.
  • Roughly chop the griddled veg and also add to the tomato pan.
  • Check the chilli for seasoning and then serve with rice, potatoes, lime wedges and a blob of creme fraiche.

Video

Categories
beef coconut coriander curry food leeks tomato

beef madras

YouTube is quickly giving rise to a whole new breed of superstar; the self-made vlogger. From NineBrassMonkeys to Periodic Videos, if you’ve got something to say there’s a place for your voice. And if people like you, you’ll build a following (a quick shout out to my great mate MeganIsSleeping – go watch, subscribe and like!). This of course allows room for all hobbies, including food and cooking. I’ve given it a try myself but struggle to make it work. Some people that have found the magic formula are Sorted Food. With nearly half a million subscribers and over 35 million combined views, they’re clearly doing something right.

I was sent a printed copy of Sorted Food’s Food with Friends. On first pass everything reads a little ordinary, but looking again there’s surprising time-saving ingenuity at play – tapenade as a duxelle substitute in a Wellington, tinned oysters in a gratin, BLT in tortilla form. In terms of writing all the instructions are bold and brash with laddish overtones, featuring plenty of SQUEEZE this and SPLASH that. There’s definitely a debt to Jamie Oliver in the style, but it may put some off.

As a fan of the channel, Spud Jr took over this one. We left this simmering for 90 minutes but there was definitely something missing from the flavour, it lacked depth. I had to tone down the chilli content for the family so the tomato was the dominant flavour. It took a little boost from powdered coconut to add a rich sweetness (I love  this stuff from Maggi’s and have always got a box handy for coconut rice, Thai dishes or cake mixes). The instructions are slightly off on this recipe, referencing a paste which you may not realise you’ve just created in previous steps. My beef also wasn’t tender in 90 minutes, so this recipe would need someone confident dealing with casseroling meat to know it may take longer. I reckon with patience 4 hours would make this melting and delicious.

This are nitpicks really, from someone who’s spent a long time in the kitchen. If you’re looking for a great core of recipes you’re likely to actually want to make in an accessible style, this would be a good start. With recipes at the more humble end of budgets and a focus on fast food (the good kind!), this would be a great book to slide into a student’s bag before they head off to Uni (or gift them the Kindle version).

If you want to give it a try, The Ultimate Barbie from the Sorted crew is free to download for Kindle. Thanks to Penguin for the book.

Beef madras (serves 4):

2 onions, peeled

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

Thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and chopped

½ teaspoon chilli powder

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon salt

Juice of 1 lemon

800g diced beef

4 tablespoons tomato puree

200ml beef stock

1 tin tomatoes

2 tablespoons powdered coconut

For the leek garnish:

½ a leek

1 tablespoon cornflour

  1. Get a large lidded casserole on the hob over a high heat. Season the beef and fry all over until browned.
  2. While the beef browns, in a food processor blitz the onion, garlic and ginger to a paste. Add the salt and some pepper, the chilli, coriander, lemon and fennel and whizz for a second or two to recombine. Add this to the browned beef and continue to fry until fragrant.
  3. Add the tomato puree, tinned tomatoes and stock, stir well to combine and then cover. SImmer on a low heat for 60 minutes and stir in the coconut. After 90 minutes check to see if the beef is tender.
  4. For the leek garnish, slice the leek into fine strips and dust with cornflour. In a generous amount of oil fry the leek strips for a minute on each side then drain on kitchen paper. Sprinkle with salt and scatter over the curry. Serve with creme fraiche and basmati rice.
Exit mobile version