I haven’t written one of these for a long, long time which is silly considering the number of new things I try each and every week. I recently bought Mary Berry’s recently-published Love To Cook and this is the fourth thing I have tried from it; all successful so far. This is for 6 people.
Spice Mix
1 tbsp medium curry powder
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp paprika
2 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp ground allspice
Curry
8 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 onions, roughly chopped
1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
A large knob of fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 red chillies, deseeded and diced
2 tbsp plain flour
450ml (¾ pint) chicken stock
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
Small bunch of coriander, chopped
Oven is 160C/140C fan.
The first thing was to make the spice mix. I hadn’t realised the spices were dolloped in in tablespoons but it certainly meant that there was going to be enough to coat everything. The spice cupboard didn’t yield medium curry powder so the obvious thing to do at that point was half and half, hot and mild.
All the spices, including the pulverised allspice berries, were mixed and a requisite 2tbsp added to the trimmed chicken thighs. I didn’t have the 8 required so 6 had to do. The chicken could then sit and take on the flavours in the fridge for a couple of hours.
Once the chicken had taken on the flavour of the spices, I heated some oil in a wide pan and browned the pieces, trying to move them as little as possible so they took on a good colour. They went in a bowl to free the pan for the next ingredients.
I roughly chopped the two onions, diced the red pepper and then got on with the garlic, chillies and ginger.
The onions and peppers went in some oil in a large, wide pan. I threw in an extra, rather sad-looking pepper in to make up for the lack of chicken and cooked for about 5 mins. Then the chilli, garlic and ginger went in for 30 seconds followed by the flour and the rest of the spice mix. That was given a good mix. I did lower the heat when the spices went in to ensure they weren’t burnt and bitter.
Finally, in went the stock, lime zest and lime juice (and, inadvertently, the pedicel – I had to look that up). When the lime was added, the fragrance seemed to spark the others into life. The chicken and juices joined the other ingredients and the pan was brought to the boil before popping in the oven for 30 mins. The oven seemed low at 160C/140C fan but Mary knows best.
When that had been in for 30 minutes, the sweet potato was added for a further half hour and given a good poke into the liquid.
I had mine with cauliflower rice and Old Bull had basmati.
Do it again? I really enjoyed the warmth of the allspice which lent a depth of flavour to all the other spices. The dish certainly had some rich heat from the red chilli, cinnamon, ginger and paprika rather than the fresh heat of other curries with green chilli. Plenty of sauce, too.
Old Bull said his least favourite part was the sweet potato but I enjoyed the softness squished into the sauce. Chicken was tender and had taken on the flavours of the spices.
Mary, you’ve created a winter-warming winner.
Do it again? 