Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Cookbook Challenge, Week 2 - Bill Granger's Fragrant Chicken and Spinach Curry


It's week 3 of the cookbook challenge and I'm only up to posting week 2. I'm trying to catch up, I promise!
This week is Indian week, so who else would you look to for Indian recipes? None other than the world famous Bill Granger, of course!
Indian food isn't something I've ever cooked a lot of and not something that excites me all that much. Maybe I've just never eaten really well cooked Indian food.
I thought that if anyone was going to make Indian Food accessible it would be Bill Granger or Jamie Oliver. I decided to go with Billy on this occasion.



This is a simple curry, which anybody could prepare. It's probably a really good curry for kids, as there is a distinct lack of spicyness and could be compared to something like Butter Chicken.
If you're not a fan of real curries, this is probably the curry for you.

Fragrant chicken and spinach curry (serves 4)

2tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
2tsp ground cumin
2tsp ground coriander
½tsp turmeric
pinch of cayenne pepper
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1tbsp freshly grated root ginger
750g (1lb 10oz) boneless chicken thighs, cubed
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
½tsp salt
2tsp soft brown sugar
1tbsp fresh lime juice
90g (3¾oz) baby spinach leaves, finely chopped
large handful fresh coriander, chopped
steamed rice, to serve


Heat the oil in a large heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring for 5 to 6 minutes until the onion is soft.

Add the spices, garlic, ginger and cook, stirring for 2 minutes more. Add the chicken and increase the heat to medium high. Cook stirring often until the chicken is browned – about 5 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes and salt and bring to simmering point. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Add the brown sugar, lime juice and baby spinach and stir until the spinach has just wilted. Remove from the heat, sprinkle with the chopped coriander and serve with steamed rice.

7 comments:

Joanne said...

That is a tasty looking curry! I don't have any of Bill's books, but maybe I need some. If only I could find the room to put them.

Rilsta said...

It's actually Week 4 now, but you don't have to catch up if you don't want to! You can just start from Week 4 if it's too hard to catch up!

The curry looks great! I wouldn't think to turn to Bill Granger for curries!

Anonymous said...

Great photos! I find curry wayyyyy too hard to look pretty but yours looks delicious!

Adski said...

haha, thanks Rilsta! I'll catch up though... it's too soon in the challenge to start missing weeks.
I've actually completed week 3 also, but just need to post it.
Yeh, I probably wouldn't look to Bill Granger for Curries ever again. But it was down to him and Jamie Oliver as they were the only Indian Recipes I had and I'd already tried the Jamie ones, which were winners.
Bill's ones are very tame.

Adski said...

Thanks Sugar junkie!
i think brown food (curries) need LOTS of photoshopping and a nice lens to be able to look anywhere near appetising in photos.

Rambling Tart said...

Mmmm, I was just hankering for a new curry! This looks divine :-)

Jetsetting Joyce (MEL: HOT OR NOT) said...

I've always been a little bit of a Bill Granger sceptic, but this looks great! Your photos make the dish look very appetising and professional.

Jetsetting Joyce