This is one of those “curry days”. It’s cold and windy outside, the kind of weather you crave a plate of spicy, creamy curry. I saw this lovely Indian chef on Food Network once, Nisha Katona, who created a wonderful curry, in what seemed like 5 minutes. She had everything gathered near the stove of course. But it really was an easy curry and it looked delicious served in lettuce leaves so I decided to give it a try. I don’t know if I used the same amount of spices as Nisha or whether my curry tasted like hers but it was absolutely delicious. Creamy, spicy, fragrant and everything a curry should be. Not to mention I finished in 30 minutes max. Make this curry today. It’s now one of my favourite, wintery, week night dinners.

Ingredients:

• 50 grams unsalted butter
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 ½ Tbs fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 red chili, deseeded and chopped
• 1 kg chicken meat, cut in about 2 cm cubes (I used thighs without the skin and bones but you could use chicken breast or a combination of the two)
• 1 Tbs ground cumin
• 1 Tbs ground coriander
• 1 Tbs garam masala
• 1 tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp chili powder
• Salt
• 1 Tbs tomato paste
• 400 ml canned coconut milk
• ¾ cup ground almonds (no need to be blanched)
• Juice of half a lemon
• Extra chilies and fresh coriander leaves to garnish

Method

In a large pan melt the butter with the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic and ginger with a pinch of salt. Cook stirring occasionally for a few minutes until onion in soft and beginning to colour. Add the chili and cook for another minute.

Turn the heat to high and add the chicken pieces together with the cumin, coriander, garam masala, turmeric and chili powder. Season with salt and cook stirring occasionally for 3-4 minutes until chicken is almost cooked. Add tomato paste, give it a stir and pour in coconut milk. Let the curry cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until chicken is cooked through.

Stir through the ground almonds. Cook for one minute and turn off the heat. Squeeze half a lemon over the curry and stir. Garnish with extra chopped red chili if you like and fresh coriander leaves. Serve with rice.

Note: For a vegetarian version replace chicken with sweet potato.