My Go-to Curry

This is my emergency curry recipe for the times when the family shout for curry and I'm a little pushed for time.

I don't worry about dry frying spices, or whizzing up pastes for this one. It also uses ingredients that I usually have lying around.

As a tip- I buy (or make) frozen cubes of chilli, garlic, ginger and herbs for times such as this when I may not have fresh ingredients. I also always have oodles of chicken thigh fillets in the freezer.

600g chicken thigh (skinless, boneless)

2 onions

3 cloves garlic

1 frozen cube each ginger and chilli

2 tbsps garam masala

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp tumeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 can coconut milk

1 can tomatoes

Add about a tbsp of oil to a large pan and add the chopped onion, garlic, ginger and chilli

Cook on a medium heat, adding a little extra oil if needed until the onions go translucent.

Meanwhile dice the chicken thigh. You can use breast, this will cook much quicker, but we prefer the flavour of thigh meat.

Add the spices to the pan (cumin seeds, garam masala, ground cumin and coriander)

Cook for a few minutes taking care not to burn the spices

Add the tomato puree and stir.

Transfer the contents of the pan to a bowl.

Turn the heat up on the now empty pan and add the chicken.

Brown off the chicken for about 5 minutes. You may need to do this in batches so as not to stew the chicken.

Add the spicy onion mixture and stir well to coat the chicken.

Add the tomatoes and the can of coconut milk.

You may find it looks like there's too much liquid at this point. However, if you simmer for a good 30 minutes it will reduce down.

If you're in a hurry, or using breast meat then you can reduce the amount of tomatoes and coconut milk you use.

Serve with pilau rice, naan or chapattis, poppadoms, chutneys.

Whatever takes your fancy really! For this one I served with pilau rice, mango chutney, raita and chapattis.