We had some relatives round for dinner and one of them loves a good curry so I decided to create an Indian feast with three different curry dishes. The main curry was my dad’s ‘famous’ chicken balti zeera. (Thanks dad!). I like this curry dish because it’s not heavy, instead it’s flavoursome, spicy and colourful.
Top tip: You can make this in advance – the longer the flavours have to infuse, the tastier it is!
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
Chicken Breasts – 4
Large Onion – 1
Green Chillies – 2
Garlic – 6 cloves
Plum Tomatoes – 1 tin
Mandarin Oranges – 1 tin
Balti Paste – 4 tbsp
Cumin – 1 1/2 tsp
Black Onion Seeds – 1 tsp
All Spice – 1 pinch
Cinnamon – 1 pinch
Mace – 1 pinch
Fresh Mint – 1 handful
Coriander – 1 handful
Garam Masala – 1 tbsp
Chicken Stock – 150mls
Corn Oil – 4 tbsp
1. Peel and chop the onion and garlic. Cube the chicken breasts into bite-size pieces. Chop the chillies, keeping the seeds.
2. Drain the half the juice from the plum tomatoes, and half from the mandarins, discarding the excess juice.
3. Add the cinnamon, all spice and mace to the chicken stock.
4. Heat the oil in a pan until smoking. Add the garlic, cumin and black onion seeds and stir fry for 30 seconds.
5. Add in the onion and stir for a further minute. Mix in the balti paste and stir in for 30 seconds.
6. Add the chicken and chillies and stir fry until the chicken is white all over.
7. Chuck in the tomatoes, mandarins and stock mixture and reduce the heat to allow the curry to simmer.
8. Roughly chop the fresh mint and add to the curry. Leave the whole lot to simmer for 25 minutes.
9. Add the garam masala and stir in for two minutes.
10. Chop the coriander. Remove the curry from the heat and add the coriander in.
Leave to stand for 5 minutes before serving with basmati rice, my vegetable samosas and naan bread. Don’t forget a beer!
