Recipe: Chicken and Chickpea Curry

This chicken and chickpea curry as a definite winner in our house.  It came about due to the fact that I had very little in the house, so I had to use up the ingredients I did have.

Curry Ingredients:

1 Can Chickpeas

2 Chicken Breasts

1/2 Onion

1 Small Courgette

1 Clove Garlic

1tsp Medium Curry Powder

300ml Vegetable Stock

Fresh Chopped 

1tbsp Cream Cheese (I chosen lactofree cream cheese)

I followed this Jamie Oliver recipe for the bread

Curry Method:

1. Cover the chicken in flour, seasoned with salt and pepper.
2. Fry the chicken until brown and add the onions, garlic, courgette and curry powder.
3. Pour in the vegetable stock and the chickpeas and simmer until the stock reduces and the chicken is tender.
4. Take the curry off the heat and stir in the cream cheese.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Place on the plate and sprinkle with fresh coriander.  Serve with rice and bread.

Mince Pie Magic

There isn't much better at this time of year than homemade mince pies.  Everyone has their different approach to the mince pie: sweet pastry, puff pastry, Filo pastry parcels, lid vs no lid.

I'm a fan of everything but I do think that as you can quite easily eat several of the tasty morsels at one time sometimes a smaller idea of a lid is good.

I stick to ready made mince meat as a base and then add to it as I go.  My mince meat was a Lidl choice and I added orange zest, orange juice, finely chopped cooking apple and glace cherries.

Ingredients:

250g self raising flour

110g butter

1 egg

Pinch of salt

Method:

• Heat oven to 160C.
• Sieve flour and salt into a metal bowl.
• Rub in the butter.
• Mix the egg in a cup, then add to the flour and butter mix.
• Bring together with a metal spatula, adding enough cold water to bring together.
• Kneed briefly to bring together, then place in the fridge for 20 mins.
• Remove from the fridge, roll out, and using a round cutter, cut out the base, and place in a muffin tin.
• Fill each base with a teaspoon mincemeat.
• Cut small stars with the remaining pastry and place on the mincemeat.
• Glaze with an egg.
• Cook in the oven for 20mins.