This dish was a little trip down memory lane. Slightly different to the restaurant style version I’d previously written about. This is the ‘rustic’ homemade ‘one pot’ version.

This dish holds a great deal of sentimental value to me. When I was doing my Saturday morning curries this is a dish I had on my offering. It was a dish that virtually nobody had heard of before, but it turned out to be the dish that I received the most requests for due to its unique flavours along with wonderful flattering feedback.

Who would have thought a curry made with – mint sauce, mango chutney & tomato ketchup would be a hit !!

This dish was created by a trendy Indian restaurant in Brick Lane – London I believe. It’s described as the new wave tikka masala. A beautiful sweet tasting curry which is actually now starting to pop up on more & more takeaways & restaurants.

Cooking time – Including prep roughly 20 minutes.

Rustic version ingredients-

3 tbsp of rapeseed oil,

2 The onions finely chopped,

2 large heaped tbsp of garlic & ginger paste,

1 tsp of cumin,

1 tsp of paprika ,

1/4 tsp of turmeric ,

200ml of tinned chopped tomatoes,

3 tbsp of mango chutney,

2 tbsp of mint sauce,

3 tbsp of tomato ketchup,

3 tbsp of chopped coriander,

200ml of chicken stock ( I use the Knorr ones),

600/800g of chicken cut up into small bite size pieces, (thigh or breast can be used, didn’t share a preference as didn’t want to be accused of being Greg Wallace!),

1 tsp of salt,

200ml of single cream,

2 tbsp of lemon juice,

1/2 tsp of garam masala.

Method –

As per most of the dishes I cook start by heating the rapeseed oil in a heavy based pan. Once the oil is nice and hot add in the finely diced onions. You want to simmer these for 6/8 minutes but not brown them.

After the onions take on a lovely translucent colour add in the garlic & ginger paste. Fry the paste for 30 seconds or so.

The kitchen will start to smell great. Add in your ground spices – cumin, paprika & turmeric.

Give the pan a good stir coating the onion mix with the spices. Again, you only need to cook for about 30 seconds or so.

Now this is the rustic bit. Add in the chopped tomatoes and give the pan a good stir summing for a minute only. The rustic part is leaving the chopped tomatoes with a little bit of shape to add texture to the dish. Alternatively you can remove the pan from the heat and blend with a hand blender for a smooth base sauce. On this occasion I’ve left the dish as it is.

Now this is where you start to build up the flavours. Add in the mango chutney, mint sauce & tomato ketchup…….

Followed by 3/4’s of the chopped coriander.

Then follow the coriander with the chicken stock giving the pan a big loving stir.

Add in the chicken pieces and cook the dish until the chicken is cooked which should take about 6/8 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure the sauce doesn’t stick. The sauce will caramelise around the edges, scrape this back into the sauce as these little bits contain lots of flavour!

After 6/8 minutes the chicken will have cooked & the sauce will have thickened.

Once you are happy with the chicken add in the single cream. Again it’s important to stir will ensuring everything is coated with the cream.

The dish is almost finished yet you feel as if you can dive in!!

To finish the dish – add the remaining coriander (if you want to be a tad cheffy save a little back for a garnish), garam masala, salt and lemon juice. Mix well but it’s important to taste, then serve.

Again, I put my rice on when the onions were added to the hot oil. Brought the rice to a rolling simmer, reduced the water below the level of the rice then removed from the heat keeping the lid on covering the pan with a tea towel so it steams itself.

Finished dish –

The recipe taken from Dan Toombs but modified to suit.

Thank you for reading my ramblings ❤️