So I’ve been playing around with a nice curry spice mix. The basic mix should give you a really nice flavour. The heat is then up to you. This will work for vegetable curry’s and any kind of meat / fish.

I’ll just give you the mix and a quick example of how I would cook it. Now this is a very English curry mix which I came up with out of nostalgia and because I think I was feeling home sick. This is a kind of butter chicken, sweet, spicy, creamy kind of curry. It’s proper tasty.

So for the curry mix you will need;

• Clive of india – Authentic Curry powder
• Paprika – Sweet
• Fenugreek Seed – Ground

• Keens Traditional Curry Powder
• Coriander Seed
• Cumin Seed
• Ground Ginger
• Red Chilli Flakes (add and extra spoon for a bit more heat if you want)

• Cardamon
• Lemon Myrtle
• Cinnamon
• Turmeric
• Fennel

Then you will need:

• Onions – finely diced
• Carrots – Diced / sliced
• Mushrooms – roughly chopped
• garlic – finely diced
• ginger – finely diced
• Courgettes – diced
• Peas – finely diced (ha… just kidding)
• Cauliflower – cut into bit sized bits
• Broccoli – cut into bit sized bits
• 650ml – Chicken Stock / Vege Stock. Just use what ever you can afford. If you use an instant stock I use Massel Stocks. They don’t have any horrible numbers in there! For sure the best instant stock. If you’re feeling fancy then buy one of those stocks in a pouch that costs a million pounds.
• Coconut cream – 1 large tin (400g ish)
• Fresh Coriander
• Organic Butter 25 – 50 grams
• 1 Organic Lemon – juiced

You can add more veggies etc.., it’s just up to you what you like.

Now I added chicken to this. Get some plain flour and mix some of the curry mix into it. Dust the chicken with this mix and pop the thighs in the oven on a baking tray at 180°C for 25-30 mins.

While this is cooking grab a large heavy based sauce pan. Pop on a medium heat. Once the pan has heated up add some extra virgin olive oil then the onion, garlic, ginger and carrots. Add some seasoning (salt and pepper).

Keep this moving around for about 5-6 mins. Now add the curry spice mix. (leave a small amount for later)  Keep stirring around the let the curry spices cook off for 2-3 mins. Now add the stock. and stir well. Let this come to a gentle simmer.

While this is happening grab a frying pan and pop on a high heat. Add some olive oil then add the courgettes. Fry off with a little of the spice mix we saved. Once you have a bit of colour on the courgettes add to the curry.

We should be about ready to grab the chicken from the oven. Remove from the oven and add the chicken to the curry. Stir well then bring back to a simmer.

Now get your broccoli and cauliflower and add to the oven pan we had the chicken in. Sprinkle a little of the spice mix, some salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Toss this all together and pop in the oven for 15 -20 mins.

Once this is cooked add the cauliflower and broccoli to the curry. Stir well then add the coconut cream. Mix well and bring to a very gentle simmer. We don’t want to let it boil too much.

So give it a taste. Add seasoning as required. The next bit now just depends on how spicy you want it. If you want to add a bit more heat then grab a few red chillies and finely dice. Add to the curry and mix well. I like to add the juice of one lemon right at the end plus a handful of fresh diced coriander.

Now. To make it a bit more luxurious and a bit more naughty you can add some butter. I’d say about 25-50 grams depending on how naughty you want to be. Cut the butter into small bits and add to the curry. Mix into the curry and stir until the butter melts.

Sorted. Just serve with some naan bread or some rice. I decided to make some potato wedges which worked really well. Kid of like fancy chips and curry. I served with some amazing organic cottage cheese. Sour cream would also work really well. (pictured at the top)

For a little fancy amuse bouche you can roast some chicken thighs in the curry spice mix as we did before, then take some of the curry sauce and serve with some fresh green chilli and coriander. A great little starter (pictured above).

xx