Chicken Cashew Curry
I love cooking curries but there’s usually an ingredient I don’t have on hand as it’s hard to get much variety from the local organic shop. As soon as I buy ginger, turmeric or galangal I slice them up and freeze. So I always have these key ingredients as well as a batch of homemade curry powder and organic spices. So last night I wanted to make a simple curry with only the ingredients I had and one that didn’t require anything else to made in advance like coconut cream or yoghurt. The result was a lovely mild curry that we all enjoyed although Mr FM did say he could go for a lot more chilli!
Ingredients
2 large cloves of garlic (approximately 10g)
2cm piece of ginger
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 brown onion, quartered
2 tsp mild curry powder
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
3-4cm fresh red chilli
Chicken breast fillets, diced (I use one fillet for our family of 3 but you can use up to 500g without doubling the recipe. You may have to add a little more water when simmering.)
200g basmati rice (add more or less depending on preference and portion sizes)
100g raw cashews
2 tablespoons coconut oil (substitute with olive oil)
250g water
1/4 tsp Himalayan salt
1 spring onion, sliced
1 bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
Method
Add the garlic and ginger to the Thermomix bowl and blitz for 5 seconds on speed 7. (If not using a Thermomix simply add crushed garlic and grated ginger to a food processor or blender)
Add the cashews along with the curry powder coriander seeds, turmeric, fresh chilli and brown onion to the food processor or blitz in a Thermomix for 5 seconds on speed 7.
Add 200g water and blend for 30 seconds on speed 7 or until smooth.
Heat 2 tbsp coconut oil in a large pan on medium-high. Add the diced chicken and fry until golden all over.
Add the cashew mix (don’t rinse the TM bowl) and season with salt. Bring to a simmer, cover and continue to cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add 900g water to the TM bowl and put the basmati rice in the basket after rinsing in water. Cook for 15 minutes on 100.C on speed 4. (If not using a TM cook rice as per preferred method)
Serve the chicken with rice and garnish with plenty of coriander and sliced spring onions.
Notes
This is a really great base recipe and so many variations can be made depending on what you have available. I will occasionally throw in half a green capsicum when blitzing up the cashews or add some coconut milk along with the rice. We normally serve this with plenty of green leafy vegetables or Asian green as well as little bit of lime. You can add anything to the Varoma while the rice is cooking and just increase it Varoma temperature. A quarter teaspoon of salt may seem like a lot but this dish really needs the salt and it brings out all of the flavours. You may want to add a little bit at a time and taste to suit your own preferences.
