Quick prawn curry

Phew ! A busy week this week. My last week off before it's back to work, so we've been having lovely days out with the kids and generally enjoying time as a family. So far we've caught up with friends, been to the zoo, soft play (personally my idea of hell but the kids love it) and now getting ready for son no2 turning 3 next week !

It has meant though that the cooking has gone by the board a little with meals out, picnics and quite a few snacky  dinners thrown in for good measure.

I found this from my saviour website BBC Good Food. Actually having just checked that link works properly, there seems to be a nice recipe for chicken, potato and green bean curry on the front page today, will book mark that one ! It's such a great website, I often just type in my main ingredient and take pot luck with what the search shows up. This is exactly what I did when I found this curry recipe. Normally I'm a bit boring with prawns and just do them in a spicy stir fry, or in a paella.

This was nice and spicy, even though I did discover my curry paste was out of date after I'd put it in - oops ! But best of all it was very quick and tasty (please excuse the shocking photo - I am working on my photography skills !).

QUICK PRAWN CURRY
serves 2

a glug of groundnut oil
1 onion sliced
4 ripe tomatoes skinned and cut into wedges
knob of root ginger grated
3 garlic cloves crushed
1-2 tbsp curry paste
200g shelled raw king prawns
Couple of large handfuls frozen peas
Coriander to serve

Heat the oil and slowly fry the onions until coloured
Reserve 4 of the tomato wedges and whizz the rest in a processor with the ginger and garlic
Add the curry paste to the pan, turn the heat up and cook for a minute or so
Add the tomato mix and reserved wedges to the pan and bubble to reduce
Then add the prawns and peas and cook until the prawns are pink and the peas tender
Scatter with coriander and serve with rice

Leftovers lamb curry

As the title really, what more do I need to say.

My step-Dad always says that a good curry burns twice, once on the way in and once on the way out. While I don't subscribe to that theory - I like my curries to be flavourful rather than hot hot hot. The husband though loves a really hot curry so we have to compromise on the heat factor.

I went off curry big time when I was pregnant with son no 1 but have recently (nearly 7 years on !) rekindled my love of the stuff. We've recently discovered a great Indian takeaway in town which delivers, always a bonus, and I think I've been inspired by that.

Last Sunday I did a traditional roast leg of lamb for family and I had a lot of leftovers so decided to make a curry. Usually I use Patak's pastes of which I have several in the cupboard chucked in with onion, garlic, tomatoes and the meat of choice. This time I decided to have a change and did the "chuck it all in and hope for the best" method.

LAMB CURRY
serves two

Glug of groundnut oil
1 onion sliced
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 tsp each of lazy chilli and lazy ginger
1 tsp each of cumin seeds, coriander seeds, ground cumin and ground coriander
4 cardamom pods
4 whole cloves
1/2 tsp of crushed chillies if you like it really hot
1/2 a cinnamon stick
200g cooked lamb - amount isn't really important, whatever you have.
1 400g can of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp tomato puree
approx 10 nuggets frozen spinach
Fresh coriander to finish

Toast the whole spices in a frying pan until they smell gorgeous
Lightly crush the whole spices (apart from the cinnamon stick) in a pestle and mortar.
Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion until golden.
Add the chilli, ginger and garlic and fry for a few minutes.
Add the spices and fry until fragrant.
Then add the meat and tomatoes, tomato puree, seasoning and a pinch of sugar.
Cook slowly for at least 30 minutes.
Add the spinach and heat through.
Serve with rice and sprinkle over coriander to serve.

Quick and healthy chicken curry

My darling husband decided he fancied beer and curry for dinner tonight, well no beer for me - 27 weeks and still not fancying alcohol.

Normally on a Friday night I'd cheat and head off to Waitrose for a pack of pilau rice, lamb jalfrezi and a chicken tikka masala with naan bread ! Tonight I thought I'd be good and I had all the ingredients in the cupboard fridge and they needed using up as we have a weekend of eating out ! I'm sure this would work well with lamb too which I plan to try in the next few weeks - heartburn permitting of course.

QUICK AND EASY CHICKEN CURRY

serves 2

Olive oil for frying
1 large onion chopped
2 tablespoons of curry paste - I use tikka but it's up to you !
2 chicken breasts or 4 chicken thighs chopped
4 tomatoes chopped
Splash of water
100g baby spinach
4T of either coconut milk or natural yoghurt
Handful of coriander chopped
Rice and or naan to serve

Heat the oil in a large pain and add the onion to soften
Then add the curry paste and cook for a couple of minutes
Brown the chicken and then add the tomatoes and water
Simmer for about 20 mins then add the spinach and wilt
If using the yoghurt take off the heat before stirring in else it will curdle !
Otherwise warm the coconut milk through and stir in the coriander