This recipe is a slightly adapted version from a Chicken Curry my mum has been making for years. I grew up with her Chicken Curry and it is one of the dishes that I ask her to make every time I return home.
I had originally bought some of the ingredients needed below to make another recipe. But after I returned home from work last night, I realised that I'd forgotten a few ingredients and felt far too lazy to go get them. If you want to know just how lazy this is, you should know that there is a supermarket across the road from my Condo, but that's neither here nor there!
When I visited Shanghai a few months ago with my boyfriend, we'd gone out for dinner with some friends. We'd suggested going somewhere that we could get a taste of Chinese provincial food. One of the dishes that was served was a vegetarian dish consisting of bread which had been deep fried and then coated in a dry rub which was heavy on the cumin. It was incredible. One of the best things I've ever eaten. It turned out, that the province that this particular dish was from met the border of the Middle East which meant that the food had been influenced by the spices used in that region. Think: cumin, coriander, cardomom and cinnamon. This dish is similar to that conceptually, as the flavours are a marriage between Chinese and Indian. Through the Madras curry powder you can taste the cumin and black pepper, and the turmuric gives the curry a golden hue. The rice wine vinegar and soy sauce give the curry a Chinese flair, kicking the whole dish up a knotch.
This recipe is already dairy free, and can be made gluten free too. It can also be made vegan, if you replace the chicken with a meat substitute. Including all the chopping and washing of ingredients, it's ready to eat in under 20 minutes. Perfect.
Note: I don't normally cook with salt, and specifically because this recipe calls for Madras curry powder which contains a little salt in the mix, I really don't think you need any. However feel free to add some based on your liking.
Ingredients
2 large skinless chicken breast fillets
2 tbsp cornflour
4 tbsp cold water and 150ml water
1 tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil for stir-frying
1 tbsp garlic, finely chopped (I used chopped garlic from a jar)
1 stock cube
2 tbsp Madras curry powder
2tbsp Rice wine vinegar
2tbsp light soy sauce (or Tamari if you want gluten free)
2 large handfuls of spinach
2 small onions cut in to chunks
Dry chilli flakes or fresh green chillies to taste
Spring onions to garnish
Directions
Chop the onions and chicken breasts in to bite size chunks.
Heat the oil in a wok or pan over a medium flame and once heated, throw in the chopped garlic and allow to flavour the oil for a minute
Throw in the chicken pieces and sear until the meat all around.
Add the Madras curry powder, rice wine vinegar and soy sauce making sure to stir often so that the chicken is coated all over. Add the stock cube.
In a cup or small bowl, measure the cornflour and add the 4 tbsp of cold water. Mix so that any lumps from the cornflour are removed and the cornflour slurry is smooth.
The chicken should now have been cooking for around 7 minutes. Ensure the chicken is cooked all the way through, you can do this by testing either the springiness of the chicken, or cut a piece in 2 to check it's white inside.
Add the cornflour slurry to the wok and stir quickly before adding the 150ml of water over the top, and continuing to stir.
Add the onions at this stage and allow the liquid to slightly thicken over the heat. Around 5 minutes.
Once the sauce has thickened, add the handfuls of spinach over the top and stir through so that the spinach wilts.
Remove from heat.
Tip: Garnish with spring onions and serve over fresh brown rice