GF DFO NF

Serves 3 – 4 people with additional rice or naan bread

If you can chop and grate and get chicken to cook quicker than me, this yummy curry may fall into the category of 30 minute meals. However, because I usually take a few minutes longer than that, I don’t feel justified in making that claim. But this is a great, tasty weeknight dinner option – the chicken is not marinated in advance and the flavour comes from ground spices that are fried together at the start of the cooking process so it is quick to pull together with no advance preparation. If you need this dish to be gluten free, ensure that your spices don’t contain gluten.

The cup measurements below are based on a 250 ml cup as equal to 1 cup.

What you need:

Few tablespoons of mild oil (I like mild or light olive oil)

1 onion, finely diced

5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

4 ½ teaspoons of ground cardamom

2 teaspoons of ground turmeric

2 teaspoons of ground coriander seeds

1 teaspoon of ground ginger

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons of ground cumin

500 grams of chicken breast, cut into bite-sized chunks

2 – 3 large carrots, grated

1/3 cup of tomato paste

1 ½ cups of room temperature water

2 cups of frozen peas

½ cup of cream (for dairy free, use coconut cream)

Salt and pepper to taste

What to do:

1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Once hot, add the onion, garlic and spices (cardamon, turmeric, coriander seeds, ginger, cinnamon and cumin) and fry together until the onions are soft, stirring as needed to minimise burning.

2. Add the chicken breast to the pan and fry, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through.

3. Add the grated carrot to the pan and fry for a few minutes, stirring frequently to mix it thoroughly into the ingredients already in the pan.

4. Add the tomato paste and water to the pan. Bring the liquid to the boil and then simmer gently for about 10 minutes, with the lid off and stirring once or twice during that time, until the grated carrot is soft.

5. Add the frozen peas to the pan and cook until the peas are just hot.

6. Add the cream (or coconut cream) to the pan and heat, stirring constantly, until the curry in the pan is just starting bubble.

7. Remove the pan from the heat and add and mix in salt and pepper to taste.

8. Serve hot with your choice of accompaniments. Enjoy!