This is my “go-to” chicken curry. I always have some home made curry paste in the freezer, so this dish only takes about 15-20 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients

1 portion of Basic Curry Paste

6 chicken thigh fillets

handful of peas (frozen will do just fine)

1 carrot peeled and finely diced (to about the size of the peas)

2 potatoes – peeled and cut into roughly equal, bite sized chunks. Par boiled until soft but not falling apart

2 handfuls of washed spinach leaves, washed, squeezed and roughly chopped

handful of finely chopped fresh coriander (use the stems as well as the leaves)

200-250 mls of water from the boiled potatoes (or chicken stock or a can of well shaken coconut milk)

Method

Par boil the potatoes and the carrots until the potatoes are soft but not falling apart. Remove the veg but reserve the water.

While the potatoes and carrots are boiling, cut the chicken thighs into about 4-6 equal, bite size pieces and season with salt and pepper and drizzle a little sunflower oil on them. Fry them in a non-stick sauce pan over a medium- high heat to get some colour onto them. You may have to do this in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan. This drops the temperature of the pan and instead of browning, the meat heats more gently and boils – which isn’t as nice tasting. The brown colouring on the meat is a result of the Maillard reaction. Although the meat is in a dark sauce in the end, the reaction adds to the curry by giving a depth of flavour which is noticeably absent if the meat is boiled in the sauce. Remove the browned meat to a bowl, do not clean the pan.

Unwrap the frozen curry paste from the clingfilm. If it seems to be getting stuck, place the frozen sausage in the microwave for 30 seconds to begin to defrost it and the clingfilm will come off easily. Heat the paste gently in the pan you’ve just browned the meat in, gently stirring often until it is all melted.

Now add the meat and any juices which have collected in the bowl; the vegetables including the frozen peas and about 100mls of the reserved water (or stock) don’t add the coriander yet. Stir it all in and bring back to a gentle boil. Add more liquid until it’s reached the consistency you want it to be. If you add too much, just let it simmer down to reduce a little.

Add the chopped coriander and serve.