So, this chicken and chickpea curry recipe is one i love. It is my mum's recipe. I also make this recipe with daal and that is also so delicious. I love daal to be honest. I am making tadka daal today and i'm already dreaming about it.
OK, i know it has been a while. I can't jus skim over the fact that i haven't posted in ages so apologies for not being around. Man! There are so many different draft posts going on here and i cannot wait to get them up. Woo!
So my kids are finally back to themselves after that horrendous infection. Gosh it took a while. It took a lot out of my babies too. Especially my little boy. My mum was like, this isn't my boo (that's his nickname). My son is so full of energy and stories and adventure, that to have a really quiet boy by my side felt odd. It feels great to have him back to that chatty, climbing the door frames, enthusiastic about EVERYTHING little man. Seriously he just talks and talks and talks. Thing is i really don't care for dinosaurs or fishing or geography so when he talks about these things, i actually learn random bits of information that i have no idea where he picks up. I can talk to him about the human body though, i always loved biology. He casually asked me to buy him a skeleton yesterday whilst i was at the supermarket. I was like 'are you for real mate?'
My babies teachers were thrilled to see him too. He makes their day with his funny stories and they adore him, which is a real blessing. As a mother, having people around who really value your kids and care about them is so lovely. Just seeing how they are with him makes my heart sing.
The kids are off nursery today. OMG I forgot to say that my daughter started nursery and i cried a lot. I completely forgot that i would be spending at least one full day with her, settling her in. I soon got over it when i was stuck in nursery with what felt like a gazillion kids screaming/playing. I then had to relive the trauma, the following day. By Friday she had settled in. WOOHOO. I was over it by that point. I was like 'bye child, off you go, ain't no place for adults, your nursery teachers are angels. I on the other hand..Just bye.'
In other news, we went to Cornwall. 23 of us. 😯 It was like the best holiday ever. I'm trying not to think about relocating there. Really. Like really, really. The place is so clean, the people are so pleasant and the beaches feel like they don't belong in the UK. As much as i love the UK, i am used to seeing grey murky beaches with coke bottles floating around on the surface. I will be putting a post up about Cornwall real soon. 🙂
OK, I have to get this recipe up because so far i have been disturbed 5 times since i started this post. Hmmmm. I have set my kids up with a little activity in the hopes that they may just get on with it and disturb me a little less so i can get on with getting a post out. Currently they are making turtles from egg cartons. Isn't life so peachy at that age?!
This curry isn't like chickpea curry (chat patti) that you would have in a normal asian household. That is to say it isn't tangy and sour. Although i love that chickpea curry, i can't imagine adding chicken to it. This is more like a very basic chicken curry (cos we all know there are thousands of ways to make a chicken curry), with chickpeas added to it. It has a deep, rich flavour and is beautifully aromatic. I serve mine with chapatis or rice. If you cannot find garam masala powder, add 2 cloves, 2 peppercorns, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 bay leaf and 2 cardamon pods in with the onions at the beginning. If you cannot find fenugreek leaves, simply leave them out or add dried fenugreek leaves when you add the chickpeas in at the end.
Chicken and chickpea curry
Ingredients
- 2 onions diced
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon ghee optional
- 5 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 inch ginger crushed
- 2 - 3 green chillies crushed
- 1 handful chopped fenugreek leaves
- 200 g chopped tomatoes pureed
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- 2 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 flat teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garam masala powder available in all supermarkets
- 1 lb chicken breast cubed into 1 cm pieces
- 400 g chickpea tin drained
- Handful coriander leaves
Instructions
- In a large non stick pot, heat the oil and ghee, then add the chopped onions and cook over a medium/high heat till they are light brown in colour. This takes around 10 - 15 minutes.
- Now add the ginger, garlic and green chilli and cook out for 2 minutes.
- Turn the heat down to medium and add the fenugreek leaves.
- After a minute, add the crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, coriander, cumin, chilli, turmeric powder, salt and pepper.
- Cook till the oil comes to the surface and the tomato mixture reduces. (About 15 minutes on low).
- Stir in the chicken pieces. Cook on a medium/low heat for 2 minutes.
- Now add the chickpeas and a cup of water, turn the heat right down and cover the pan with a lid. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes checking midway to make sure more water isn't required. Remove the lid and stir in the garam masala powder.
- Remove the pot from the heat after 2 minutes and garnish with coriander leaves.
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