Easy Chicken Balti

A classic Indian curry - this hot, spicy & fragrant curry is delicious! Traditionally served in a balti bowl, I find most recipes for this curry somewhat complicated - grinding, blending, sautéing - it can all get a bit much. So I’ve tried my best to come up with a simple healthy recipe - whilst maintaining the flavour.

Here’s how you make it:

First grab 6 cloves of garlic, peel and crush. Then grate a 3cm piece of ginger. Place both the crushed garlic and grated ginger in a bowl and leave to one side.
Blend 2 medium sized tomatoes to a paste and stir in 1.5 tsp ground cumin, 1 tbsp. ground coriander, 1.5 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder (or hot chilli powder), 1 tbsp. natural yogurt/Greek yogurt and salt to taste. Place to one side.
Grab a large non-stick saucepan and add a glug of rapeseed oil and a knob of butter. Once hot, throw in 1 tsp mustard seeds. Once the seeds start to pop and sizzle, add 1 bay leaf and 1 white onion (finely chopped).
Give this all a good stir and cook on a medium to low heat. After 15 minutes, add the crushed garlic and grated ginger, with 2 green chillies (finely chopped) and cook for a further 15 minutes until the onions are well browned. If the onions start to stick to the pan, add a splash of water.
Then stir in the blended tomatoes, spices and yogurt mix. Increase the heat and stir for 10 mins until the mixture thickens and you are left with a thick masala paste.
You then want to add 500g boneless chicken thigh fillets, that have been cut into 2.5cm chunks. Stir into the thick masala paste, and ensure all your chicken is coated in the paste. Add about 50ml of water.
Pop a lid on your plan, reduce the heat to a simmer and leave to cook for approx. 20 mins, stirring occasionally.
Whilst the chicken is cooking, it will release water to create a thick gravy. Once the chicken is cooked through, you can adjust the consistency by adding more water if you want a more runny curry, or you can cook on a high heat to thicken it up. It’s totally your call!
When you are happy, stir in chopped fresh coriander leaves and serve!