it looks like REAL indian food...

over a year ago i bought a certain someone a curry cookbook... but it was only last week that we finally opened it up and made a recipe. both of us love indian food. there is an indian restaurant right around the corner from our place that we get to deliver us food when we are feeling incredibly lazy, but i thought that the time had come to try making it ourself. after all the cookbook was looking slightly sad up on top of the fridge with all it's neighboring books laughing that it had never been used to make anything delicious. look whose laughing now (that's right... the indian cookbook...).

anyway. basically this meal was incredible. i chose it because it had the least amount of strange and obscure ingredients. i had everything already in my cupboard which meant no trips to any far away indian shops. we cooked it again tonight for the second time, but this time made the full recipe so that we could have leftovers. you can make it as spicy or as mild as you like, just adjust the amount of chili powder you put in. ok, so here it is... chicken jalfrezi.

ingredients

4 chicken breasts

juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp salt

5tbsp sunflower or olive oil

1 large onion (finely chopped)

2 tsp garlic puree

2tsp ginger puree (make these purees yourself just finely grate them both)

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp coriander

chili powder (to taste: 1/2-1 tsp)

300g tinned chopped tomatos (recipe recommends only 150 but we put almost a whole tin)

150 ml warm water

1 large garlic clove finely chopped

1 small red pepper

1 small green pepper (both deseeded and chopped into 1 inch pieces)

1 tsp garam masala

indian bread or basmati rice to serve

directions

part 1: cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes and put in a bowl, add the lemon juice and half the salt and rub into the chicken - cover and leave to sit

part 2: heat 4 tablespoons of the oil in a medium saucepan over a medium heat. add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 8-9minutes, until lightly browned. add the garlic and ginger purees and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. add the turmeric, cumin, coriander, and chili powder and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. add the tinned tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.

part 3: add the marinated chicken, increase the heat slightly and cook, stirring, until it changes colour. add the warm water and bring to the boil. reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

part 4: heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a small saucepan over a low heat. add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until browned. add the red and green peppers, increase the heat to medium and stir-fry for 2 minutes, then stir in the garam masala. fold the pepper mixture into the curry. remove from the heat and serve immediately with bread or cooked basmati rice.

the rating

expense: 4/10 - once you've got the spices and chicken the rest is super cheap

difficulty: 4/10

taste: 9/10 - seriously so yummy.

p.s. and yes, incase you were wondering this is jenny and yes, i am cooking more these days. i hope you are all impressed with my wifely domestic skills.

xx