Chicken Jalfrezi Recipe

Serves 4

We’re sharing the COOK recipe for one of our most popular Indian dishes, so you can try it at home. We suggest you use higher-welfare chicken and, if you want to use the same spices as we do in our Kitchen, they are from East End Foods, available in many supermarkets and speciality shops.

You can always substitute the chicken for your veggies of choice if you want to make a vegetarian version … and, obviously, this recipe freezes well if you’ve got leftovers!

Ingredients

For the sauce 2 large onions, cut in half and then cut into 6-8mm slices

12g table salt

1 small red pepper, cut into 6-8mm slices

1 small green pepper, cut into 6-8mm slices

2 garlic cloves, chopped into small pieces

4 dried bay leaves

1 cinnamon sticks

80g vegetable or rapeseed oil, for frying

200g chopped tomatoes

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp turmeric

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp garam masala

¼ tsp chilli powder

1 tbsp Madras powder

2 tsp of granulated sugar

2g curry leaves, chopped

For the meat

50g vegetable / rapeseed oil for frying the chicken

500g chicken breasts, diced

1 tsp madras powder

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp paprika

2tbl spoons natural yoghurt

For the garnish

Handful of fresh, chopped coriander leaves

Cooked basmati rice and / or naan bread to serve

Method

Take the diced chicken breasts and coat in the marinade ingredients and leave in the fridge while you make the sauce.

To make the sauce, heat the 80g of oil and fry the chopped garlic cloves until they begin to go golden in colour. Add the sliced onions, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, curry leaves and salt and cook on a medium heat for approx. 10 minutes to soften without colouring. Once soft add the sliced peppers, spices and chopped tomatoes, stir well and cook on a medium heat for 30-35 minutes (this will cook out the spices), stirring regularly to prevent the bottom of the pan from burning. If the mix goes a bit dry add a splash of water. Once the spices are cooked out add around 50-100g of water to create a sauce consistency and switch off. Stir in the sugar and cover to keep warm.

Fry the marinated chicken in vegetable oil and stir continuously. After a few minutes add the sauce you prepared earlier (pick out the bay leaves & cinnamon sticks first) to the cooked chicken and simmer for around 10-20 minutes, adding a splash of water if it gets too thick.

Just before you dish it up, stir in a handful of chopped coriander leaves. Serve with basmati rice or naan bread.