let’s talk about some spice…

I’m not a great lover of spicy food purely because I can’t handle too much heat, even with a glad of milk. But I can still handle some heat to a certain degree, my sister on the other hand cannot handle any heat, even a little pepper is too much for her. Becaude of this we hardly ever eat spicy food at home, much to my dad’s dismay. There os however a trusted chicken curry recipe that we male that everyone in the family loves, even my sister and her sensitive tastebuds. 

We always enjoy this chicken curry with freshly baked naan bread that is absolutely delicious with the lovely chicken curry sauce. The naan bread also freezes really well, so it can be made in advance and reheated when needed.  

Deliciously creamy Chicken Curry recipe:

• 12 Chicken pieces
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 blocks or 2 tablespoons of chicken extract
• 2 onions (finely diced) 
• 2 apples (cored and diced) 
• 5 cloves
• 4 cinnamon sticks 
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 2 cups of cream
• 1 ½ tablespoon mild curry powder
• 1 teaspoon tumeric
• 1 tin mushroom soup
• 1 tablespoon corn flour

1. Season the chicken pieces with salt and peper. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large pan and brown the chicken pieces on both sides for 5 minutes. Remove the chicken pieces from the pan and allow to cool down.
2. Fry the onion and apple in the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Add the ginger, curry powder and tumeric and   fry to develop the flavour. Add the mushroom soup and allow to simmer, then add the cream and allow to simmer.
3. Add the chicken pieces to a large pot. Add the chicken extract to the 2 cups os bpiling water to make a chicken stock. Pour the sauce into the pot and add the chicken stock to the pot as well. Add the cloves and cinnamon sticks to the curry.
4. Allow the curry to simmer for 30-40 minutes or until the chicken pices are tender.
5. Mix the corn flour was th a little bot of water and aff to the curry and allow the sauce to thicken. 

Tip: the curry can be made in advanced and warmed up before serving. The heat of the curry can also be adjusted to taste, just add more curry powder and tumeric or use a stronger curry powder.

Fluffy homemade naan bread

• 500g white bread flour
• 2 teaspoons caster sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 ¼ teaspoons fast action yeast
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 150ml greek yogurt
• 150ml milk
• 3 tablespoons water
• Some oil

1. Put the flour into a large bowl and mix in the sugar, salt, seeds, coriander and yeast. 
2. Mix the yogurt and milk together and warm slightly in the microwave. Add the melted butter to the milk and yogurt. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Add enough warm water and knead well until a soft elastic dough forms.
3. Put the dough into a lighlty piled bowl and cover woth oiled clingfilm. Allow to rise in a warm place for an hour, or until doubled in size. 
4. Tip the dough out on a lightly floured surface and divide the dough into 6 pieces. Shape the pieces of dough into long oval shaped breads and roll out into 8mm thick breads.
5. Oil the breads on both sides, place onto a piece of clingfilm and cover with another piece of clingfilm, and allow to rise fr 20 minutes.
6. Heat a large pan, cook the breads over a high heat on both sides until browned and cooked through. This will take about 3-5 minutes per bread. Bake two breads at a time. Put the baked breads into a bread basket and keep warm with a tea towel. Serve warm.

Tip: when freezing, allow to cool completely and put them in freezer bags. When warming up from the freezer, defrost them in the microwave first and then quickly toast then in a pan over a high heat.