Hairy Dieters Chicken Bhuna

As with all of the curry recipes I have tried from The Hairy Dieters cook books, the lower calorie content doesn't mean a scrimp on flavour. I made this curry on Friday night for dinner and finished it last night. As usual with curries they are usually better on the second day. I added a chopped red chilli to make it more spicy the second time around, as I felt it needed it. We had an Indian takeaway the week previously which resulted in  three out of four of us suffering  from very upset stomachs the next day. I know what I'd rather be eating. This recipe is from the 'Hairy Dieters, Eat for Life', cookbook.

Ingredients
Serves 4
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 x red, orange and green pepper
40g fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped
2 medium onions, quartered
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tsp mild curry powder
2 tsp garam masala
 ½ tsp hot chilli powder (more if you want hotter)
1 tbsp sunflower oil
400g can of chopped tomatoes
600ml of chicken stock, made with one stock cube
1 tbsp of caster sugar
2 tbsp of cold water
1 tbsp cornflour
Fresh coriander to garnish, optional
Flaked sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper


Method
Put the chicken thighs on a board and trim off any visible fat with good kitchen scissors, then cut each chicken thigh into 3 pieces. Season with lots of freshly ground black pepper. Deseed the peppers and cut them into chunks of 3cm . Set aside.

Cut the ginger into small pieces and put then into a food processor. Add the onion quarters, garlic, curry powder, garam masala and chilli powder and blitz until everything is finely blended. You may need to remove the lid and push the mixture down with a rubber spatula. If you don't have a food processor, coarsely grate the onion and finely grate the ginger and garlic, then mix with the spices in a bowl.

Heat the oil in a large non stick saucepan. Add the spiced onion paste and cook it over a medium heat for 10 minutes until softened and lightly browned, stirring regularly. Tip the tomatoes into the pan and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add the chicken and peppers to the curry sauce and cook for 2 minutes, stirring. add the chicken stock and sugar. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 minutes or until the chicken is tender, stirring occasionally.

Mix the cornflour with the water and stir the mixture into the sauce. Simmer for 2-3 minutes until the sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper and serve garnished with fresh coriander if you like. . 

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