Recipes that make me happy - 4

Chicken Korma

4 skinless chicken breasts (or de-boned thighs), chopped into nice chunky pieces (or one package of Quorn pieces to make it vegetarian)
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped into squarish pieces
1 largish courgette, chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into large squarish pieces
2 cloves of garlic (that's the individual pieces of garlic, not the whole bulb!), crushed
1 14 and 1/2 oz tin of chopped tomatoes (no salt and not stewed)
1 14 and 1/2 oz tin of light coconut milk
1 and a 1/2 tsp of garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
3 tblsp chopped fresh leaf coriander, including stalks
1 tblsp oil, preferably olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Put the oil, turmeric and garam masala into a largish saucepan and heat on a medium heat until you can smell the spices. Stir in the onion, garlic and carrots. Let these sweat, keeping them moving every so often, until the onion goes translucent (see-through).

Add the chicken and stir regularly, allowing to brown slightly. Add the potato, coconut milk and tomatoes (if you're using Quorn, add it here). Cover with a lid and simmer on the medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add the squash and simmer for a further 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

You can let it go cold at this point, refrigerate preferably, then reheat later. Before serving, stir in the coriander, add salt and pepper if you need to and serve over steamed or boiled basmati rice (only takes 10 minutes to cook!).

My kids absolutely adore this! I change out one of the ordinary potatoes for a sweet potato mostly and I also make it with butternut squash instead of courgette. Makes it sweeter to the small person's palate. I also often leave out the chicken (or Quorn) and just have it as a veggie korma.