Category: Asian dishes

Thai green chicken curry recipe

This is a follow up from the last post (Thai green curry paste)

I love the distinct flavour of a Thai curry, get one up on the takeaways with this fairly simple recipe, let’s get to it!

Ingredients (serves 6-8)

  • 500-800g of diced chicken, white or brown meat is fine
  • 1 tin of coconut milk (about 400g)
  • 1 large onion or 2 medium finely diced
  • 2 limes
  • 200-300g mangetout, or sliced green beans
  • 2-4 tbsp thai fish sauce
  • 1-2 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 2-4 tbsp green Thai curry paste
  • 1-2 tsp sugar
  • 100-200g new potatoes
  • 1-2 chicken stock cubes
  • A good handful of Thai basil, or basil
  • Oil for cooking, I use sunflower or groundnut
  • Salt and pepper

Equipment

  • Knife
  • Chopping board
  • A wok, or frying pan
  • Saucepan
  • Slotted spoon
  • Measuring jug

Prep and cooking (30-40 minutes)

  1. Start by boiling a pan of water with some salt, when it’s at a rolling boil add the beans and cook for about 3 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon and put in a measuring jug, run under a cold tap until the beans are cold and drain the excess water, put to one side.
  2. Slice the potatoes in half/equal sized pieces and cook in the same water as the beans for 7-10 minutes until soft but not overdone. Run under cold water until cold, drain and put to one side.
  3. You can either do this after the first 2 steps or at the same time (just keep track of what you’re doing), heat some oil to a medium high heat in the wok/pan, when it’s nice and hot add the onion and stir/toss constantly for 1-2 minutes until starting to colour.
  4. add the Thai curry paste and cook for another 1-2 minutes while stirring.
  5. As the coconut milk and keep the heat high until it starts to bubble.
  6. Add the sugar, soy, fish sauce, stock cube and diced chicken. Turn the heat down low and simmer with a lid on for about 10 minutes (until the chicken is cooked).
  7. Zest the lime into the pot, add juice if desired (taste first).
  8. Before serving stir in some basil leaves while it’s hot but not on the heat about a minute before serving.
  9. Enjoy some Thai!

“Ain’t nobody got Thai for that“

So there you have it, pretty simple and always a joy to eat.

Been busy with work the past few days but got some days off coming up so will hopefully get a few new recipes/guides up soon!

Thai green curry paste recipe

I’ve had a few requests for a Thai green curry, specifically one that uses ingredients that are easily obtainable in the UK.

I would advise making your own Thai curry paste as it packs more of a flavour punch, it’s cheaper than that from the shop and it’s more fun doing it yourself.

I thought I’d start with a Thai curry paste recipe, as a good curry paste (should) make a good curry!

To the recipe!

Ingredients (makes about 500ml)

  • 2-3 medium onions
  • 10-15 green chillis
  • Ginger paste (2-3 tbsp)
  • Garlic paste (2-3 tbsp)
  • 1-2 lemons
  • 2-4 limes
  • 2 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 50ml Thai fish sauce
  • 20ml light soy sauce
  • 30-50g fresh coriander
  • 100ml olive oil

Equipment

  • A food processor, or,
  • A mixing bowl/measuring jug and an immersion blender

Prep (5 minutes)

  1. Zest and juice the lemons and lime into bowl.
  2. Dice the onion and add to bowl.
  3. Slice chillis, remove seeds if you don’t want it so hot and add to bowl.
  4. Lightly crush the coriander seed, add to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
  5. Blitz until smooth and keep in the fridge for upto 3-4 weeks.

Lemon squeezy

Nice and easy.

You can vary the amounts of ingredients depending on personal taste.

I’ll be doing a Thai green chicken curry recipe next so keep an eye out for it.

Looking at costing, the above recipe works out about £1.45 cheaper if you were to buy the same quantity from a supermarket, not too shabby!

Chicken tikka masala recipe


The dish of a thousand recipes and probably most well know as being an ‘English’ curry.

Over the years I’ve seen and cooked so many variations of this. This is the recipe that I’m currently using.

I’ll do a post soon on how to butcher a whole chicken (saves a lot of cash!) but you can use any kind of chicken meat you like, alternatively the sauce (which is made separately) can just be a base for a vegetable curry.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

For the sauce

  • 2 large onions, or 3-4 medium
  • 2 red peppers
  • 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
  • 2-4 tbsp garlic paste
  • 2-4 tbsp ginger paste
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 2-3 tbsp cumin seeds
  • 5-10g dried curry leaves
  • 1 tbsp paprika (not smoked)
  • 2-3 tbsp garam masala
  • 2-5tbsp double cream
  • Salt and pepper
  • Chilli powder (optional)

For the chicken

  • 1 whole chicken, cut into parts and thickly diced, or 500-900g of thickly diced chicken meat
  • 250-300g natural yoghurt
  • 1 tbsp garlic paste
  • 1 tbsp ginger paste
  • 2-4 tbsp mint sauce (shop bought or homemade)

Equipment

  • Mixing bowl
  • Knife
  • Chopping board
  • Immersion blender/ food processor
  • Roasting tray or oven dish
  • Saucepan
  • Wooden spoon
  • Cling film
  • Tin foil
  • Slotted spoon

Prep and cooking (optional 1.5-2+ hours)

  1. First to marinade the chicken, put the largely diced meat into a mixing bowl with the yoghurt, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper and mint sauce. Mix well, cover and put in the fridge (preferably overnight).
  2. Finely dice the onion. Heat some oil on a medium heat in a pan, when warm add the onion, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Cook for 3-5 minutes stirring occasionally until the onion is soft.
  3. Slice the red pepper, doesn’t have to be neat but not too thick, add to the pan and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
  4. Add the garlic and ginger paste and cook for another 2-4 minutes.
  5. Mix the dry spices with a little water to make a paste, then mix with the tomato paste, add to the pan and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
  6. Add the tinned tomatoes, reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
  7. Remove from the heat to cool. Heat the oven to 180°c (fan) and put the chicken in a roasting tray or oven dish and cover with tin foil, cook for 30-40 minutes until the chicken is cooked.
  8. Remove the chicken from the oven. Now blend the sauce with your immersion blender/food processor until smooth and return to a low heat.
  9. Remove the chicken from the baking dish with a slotted spoon into the sauce. Pour any remaining liquid in the baking tray into the sauce, cover with a lid and cook for 20+ minutes.
  10. Tikka break and have some curry.

Chicken tikka, tell me what’s wrong..

Another chicken tikka recipe to add the the masses.

It seems there’s a ton of claims as to where it originated, mainly either India, or the UK but it seems pretty conclusive whoever came up with it was of Indian decent.

The masala refers to the sauce, chicken tikka refers to the marinating and roasting of the chicken.

Supposedly here in England it’s one of our nations favourite dishes!

More recipes soon, feel free to message me with any recipe requests.

Join 1,121 other subscribers

Chinese curry sauce recipe


Can ya smeeellll, what the wok, is cookin’

Always a distinctive flavour, but I always hate how they put peas in it.

It’s Chinese curry sauce, of course!

This recipe is a request from @mattcudmore on the Facebook page, hope it works for you!

The main flavour of this sauce actually comes from pre mixed curry powder, and in the traditional Asian fashion the sauce is thickened with corn flour rather than butter and flour like a roux.

This recipe is for the sauce only, to turn it into a veg/chicken/beef etc curry just cook the desired meat/veg in a pan then add the sauce and cook through.

Ingredients (serves 2-4)

  • 1 medium onion
  • Garlic paste and ginger paste (about 2-3 tsp of each)
  • 3-4 tbsp of curry powder; I find mild curry powder from Asda works well, failing that most madras curry powders have the right kind of flavour
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric (optional, for colour)
  • Chilli powder (optional, if you want some heat)
  • 1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
  • Cornflour
  • 1-2 tsp light soy sauce
  • 400-500ml chicken stock (stock cubes and water if you don’t have any actual stock)
  • Salt and pepper
  • Sugar (1-2 tsp)
  • Cooking oil

Equipment

  • Chopping board
  • Knife
  • Wok or saucepan
  • Measuring jug
  • Immersion blender (hand blender) or food processor

Prep and cooking (20-25 minutes)

  1. Heat some oil in a pan on a medium-low heat and finely dice the onion.
  2. When the pan has warmed up add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes until soft, stirring occasionally.
  3. Add the garlic paste and ginger paste and cook out for a minute or two while stirring.
  4. Mix the dry spices and sugar with a little bit of water to make a paste and add the the pan, cook out the spices for another minute or two while stirring.
  5. Add the soy sauce and stock and whack the heat up full, when it comes to a boil reduce the heat to low and leave it to simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring every so often to make sure nothing sticks (and burns) to the bottom of the pan.
  6. Get the immersion blender and whizz it all up until smooth, or is using a food processor blend and return to the pan.
  7. Mix some cornflour (about 50g?) with water or chicken stock if you have any left with your fingers to make sure there are no lumps.
  8. Heat the sauce the pan to a medium high heat, add a little of the cornflour slurry at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
  9. Add salt and pepper to taste
  10. Enjoy!

Wok this way…

Though curry isn’t typical of Chinese food it’s still apparently quite a popular dish in southern parts of China, where they add curry powder to some dishes.

As you’d expect, curry powder is a largely western thing making an appearance somewhere around the 18th century, the Asian version tends to have either cinnamon or star anise as additional ingredients (which is why we add a little 5 spice)

On to costing, this sauce rolls in at £1.58, which is about 40p per serving.

A 500g jar or premade sauce is 80p at Tesco so a bit cheaper, but it’s about 150g less than the recipe above and fresh is always more enjoyable.

As someone mentioned in a post the powdered Chinese curry sauce is a good alternative, I’ve used it before and it generally works alright but it’s a bit pricey, about £2.75 for 405g or 0.68p/100g which works out at £4.42 for the amount the above recipe would make you.

So you can see while it’s convenient, it comes at a cost of an extra £2.84, which is enough for a whole chicken.

More recipes soon!

Join 1,121 other subscribers

Mughali Murgh Korma (Moghali braised chicken/Chicken Korma) recipe


I always used to think a korma was a poor excuse for a curry due to the lack of heat.

This recipe is a second request from @rachaelireland on the Facebook page.

That was until my (current) head chef shew me a recipe and i can’t deny, it’s bloody delicious, If you like coconut this is a dish for you!

The recipe i have is to make about 20 portions so i’ve cut it down best i can and hopefully it shouldn’t affect the flavour of the dish.

Ingredients (serves 2)

For the sauce

  • 4 cloves
  • 1 medium/small cinnamon stick
  • 3 black peppercorns
  • 5 green cardamom pods
  • 2 tablespoons of desiccated coconut
  • 1-2 tsp garlic paste
  • 2 tbsp almond powder
  • 1-2 tsp ginger paste
  • 1tsp ground turmeric
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 2 pints of natural yoghurt
  • Salt & pepper
  • 1 large onion

For the chicken

  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 1-2 eggs
  • 1-2 tsp garlic paste
  • 1-2 tsp ginger paste
  • 1-2 tsp garam masala

Equipment

  • Knife
  • Chopping board
  • Frying pan
  • Medium/large saucepan
  • Measuring jug
  • Fork, or whisk

Prep (10-15 minutes)

  1. Start by cutting the chicken however you like, i prefer to dice it into fairly large cubes, usually about an inch in size. Beat the egg in a measuring jug with the other ingredients ‘for the chicken’, when fully mixed add the chicken to the measuring jug and mix again to coat the chicken.
  2. Finely dice the onion.
  3. Warm the frying pan up on a medium-high heat (with no oil). When it’s hot add the coconut to roast it, make sure you keep it moving constantly so it doesn’t burn, you’re looking for a nice brown colouring but not black, it should take a minute or two.
  4. Now turn the heat down to medium and add a little oil or butter, fry the chicken off until cooked through and remove from the pan onto a plate/bowl.

Cooking (20-30 minutes)

  1. Now we can get onto making the sauce, heat some oil in a saucepan on a lowish heat and add the whole spices (cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, cardamoms & cumin seeds) and cook until lightly coloured.
  2. Add the onion and garlic, turn the heat up a little and cook for another 3-5 minutes while stirring.
  3. Add the remaining ingredients except for the yoghurt (coconut, ginger paste, turmeric and almond powder) and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
  4. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool down a little. Get a desert spoon and take 1 tbsp of yoghurt and mix into the saucepan, keep doing this until all the yoghurt is mixed into the sauce. We do this because if you add all the yoghurt at once into the hot pan it will split, your sauce will look horrible, and won’t have a smooth creamy texture.
  5. Return the pan to a medium-low heat and add the cooked chicken, cook for 10+ minutes, serve and be merry.

“Eating too much curry can put you in a spice induced korma”

A Korma is a dish that actually originated in India, as opposed to something like a chicken tikka.

The English name ‘Korma’ come from the Urdu for qormā, which means “braise” referring to how its traditionally cooked.

If you’re not a huge fan of a korma, try this recipe, it changed my mind!

More recipes soon

Join 1,121 other subscribers

Takeaway style chicken chow mein recipe


This recipe is a request from @rachaelireland on the Recipes & Stuff Facebook page (hope it works for you!)

The recipe is an adaptation of one that my partner found online and cooked for me a few times, after getting the recipe from her i made a few slight adjustments to personal taste.

She got the recipe from a YouTube video which claimed it was an authentic takeaway chow mein recipe but i can’t say 100% if it’s how it’s actually done in a chinese takeaway or not, it looked legitimate enough though and either way it’s still delicious!

The trick is plenty of soy sauce, as it contains natural MSG which really opens up the flavour.

Soy sauce!

It only takes about 20 minutes to make so let’s get cooking some chow mein! I’ll get some pictures uploaded the next time i make some (or send your own!)

Ingredients (serves 2-4)

  • 2 blocks of dried noodles
  • 2 chicken breasts, sliced into small strips. You can use more or less if you want and it doesn’t have to be breast meat
  • Chicken stock/stock cube (optional)
  • 1 onion, sliced (i prefer to slice it like this for Asian dishes)
  • Beansprouts (as many or as little as you wish)
  • Light soy sauce
  • Dark soy sauce
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • Garlic paste

Equipment

  • A wok is nice, but a frying pan works fine
  • A small/medium saucepan
  • Knife
  • Chopping board
  • Wooden spoon
  • A pair of scissors
  • A sieve or pasta spoon
  • Ideally this comes out best cooked on a gas hob as it gives the pan a higher heat all around but electric works fine.

Prep and cooking (10-15 minutes)

  1. Start by cooking the chicken, fill the saucepan about 3/4 full with chicken stock or water & stock cube(s) and put it on to boil, as it boils add the chicken then turn the heat down to low. This is where you want the chicken strips to be nice and small so they cook quickly, it should only take about 5 minutes. When it’s ready remove it with a slotted spoon onto a plate and turn the heat but up full.
  2. Put the wok/pan on a high heat.
  3. When the stock is boiling add the noodles, when they come back upto the boil reduce the heat to medium.
  4. While the noodles are cooking wait until the pan/wok starts to smoke, then add a little oil (about 1tbsp), ground nut/peanut oil has a higher smoking point and a nice flavour, but any oil is fine.
  5. Add the onion and toss the pan (if you’ve got the hang of it) and/or stir with a wooden spoon constantly. After about a minute add the bean sprouts and cook for another minute or so still stirring, then add the garlic and cook for another minute (still stirring, it is a type of stir fry!)
  6. Add a dash of Worcestershire sauce (i use about 1 tbsp) and keep cooking and stirring for another minute or so.
  7. The noodles should now be ready, so either transfer them from the saucepan to the wok/pan with a pasta spoon, or drain them and add the the pan. If you are draining them keep 1/2 tbsp of the stock to add to the wok/pan as you add the noodles.
  8. Get your scissors and snip up the noodles in chunks in the pan, make sure to be careful if it’s a non stick pan so not to scratch it. We do this so when we mix the noodles they actually incorporate with the rest of the chow mein, rather than sitting in the middle with everything else around the edge.
  9. Add the chicken, light soy sauce (4-6 tbsp) and dark soy sauce (2-3 tbsp) and get stirring while it cooks away at full heat, when most of the liquid has gone (should be 2-3 minutes) serve and eat! (Don’t burn your mouth)

Quick and easy chicken chow mein recipe (and cheaper than a takeaway)

Hope you enjoy! If it looks dry just add more soy/stock, it shouldn’t need any salt due to the amount of soy sauce, but I still usually put a few flakes of sea salt over the top 🙄

Costing this dish it comes in at about 90p a serving, or £1.80 for a size similar to that you’d get from a takeaway.

According to the internet, chow mein is a Romanized version of the Taishanese word chāu-mèn and it’s enjoyed mainly in Nepal, America, India and sunny old England.

From what I can find Westernised chow mein is nothing like they would have it in China, it seems over there is more of a soft noodle broth, kind of like a wonton soup but with no wontons.

But who cares!

Yum.

Keep an eye out for more recipes, I’ll try and get some more takeaway style ones up soon.

Join 1,121 other subscribers