September Reset: Chicken, Lentil & Hidden-Veg Curry
A family favourite from https://fatimacooks.net/ with a Tor twist. This works just as well without meat.
This is great Autumn/Winter recipe to use your veg and make in larger batches so it's perfect for lunches as well as hearty dinners.
To make this recipe FOR 6 PORTIONS you will need:
CHICKEN
- 12 chicken drumsticks or thighs
- 2 onions chopped
- 1/2 bulb garlic chopped
- 4 small tomatoes chopped (you can also use tomato paste)
LENTILS & VEG
- Chana Dal 190g
- sweet potato or squash peeled and diced into 3cm cubes (very approx!!)
- carrots - I peel and cut lenghtways before cutting into batons
- frozen peas
- spinach
- 1 tin coconut milk 400ml
- You can use any veg at this stage - just depend what you have. Potatoes are nice!
SPICES
- Tumeric
- Ground Cumin
- Ground Corriander
- Red Chilli Powder
- Salt and Pepper
And here’s how to do it…
- Start by putting all chana dal, 1 cup (190 g) chana dal (split chickpeas) (washed and soaked in water for at least 30 minutes before using), 1 teaspoon turmeric, 1 teaspoon salt to boil on a medium high heat with lots of water.
- Cook these until they are just cooked through, but still holding their shape. Reserve the cooking water. Usually about 20/30 minutes.
- Separately, heat oil in a deep pot and add the chopped onions. Fry till these are translucent and lightly turning gold.
- Add the garlic, all the spices and the chicken. Fry this all well until the chicken begins to brown.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Basically use any of the root veg you want at this stage.
- Once the simmer time is up, uncover and add in the chana dal, as well as about one cup of the reserved water.
- Bring it all to a boil, then cover and simmer again on low for 20 minutes. You will likely need to add more water, so keep checking and topping up the water if necessary.
- Remember, this curry has a tendency to absorb a lot of water, therefore keep the curry a bit more liquid-y than appears to be enough.
- At this stage I add a tin of coconut milk and cook through for another 10 minutes until the chicken is falling off the bone.
- Serve with rice and flatbreads but you can just have this on it's own!
Notes
If you are using a chicken that takes longer to cook, add half a cup of water alongside the tomatoes and cook for a total of half an hour, or as long as it takes to get the chicken almost done.
