Herbs and Spices

Herbs and Spices play a big part in my everyday cooking. My cupboard is full of dried herbs and fresh ones are in the garden. You do not need a big garden, most herbs grow really well in pots.

So many countries have their own flavours which I discovered on my travels. I was lucky enough to start travelling at an early age. My parents took me to Singapore on my first trip where I smelt so many unusual things. My mother did not use a lot of spices in her cooking, well, maybe her curry chicken or boiled fruit cake had some!

At that time Singapore still had wooden villages where huge concrete buildings now stand. This is where I discovered chilli and satay. Meat on sticks, wow, never had I seen this before and not just yellow curry, there was red and green too!!!!

Enough history for one day, I better include a recipe for you to try.

Bernadette's Chicken Curry ~ The Old Fashioned Way! 

Serves 4 People

Ingredients

1kilo of chicken pieces or chicken breasts, whichever you prefer.

Half a cup plain flour

2 teaspoons dry Indian curry powder(mild)

1 large or 2 small onions (diced)

2 large potatoes (peeled and cubed)

1 cup frozen or fresh peas

1 and half litres of chicken stock 

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

Salt and pepper (add to taste)

2 tablespoons of cornflour

Half a cup of cold water

Vegetable oil

Basmati rice

Method

Place the chicken into a plastic or paper bag, add flour, then shake. Make sure the flour has coated the chicken evenly.

Remove the chicken from bag.

In a pan, put 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil and then place in the chicken. On slow to medium heat, brown chicken on all sides.  This should not take long, approximately 2 minutes each side. Remove chicken from the pan and drain off excess oil.

In a large pot, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, onion(s) then brown on low heat. Place the curry powder, sugar, chicken stock and chicken pieces. Put a lid on the pot, stirring occasionally, ensuring the chicken is not sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Cook on a low heat for about one hour, then add diced potatoes, peas and cook for a further half hour. The chicken, potatoes and peas should now be tender. Take a spoon, test the flavour, you may need salt and/or pepper. Add to taste. 

The chicken mixture will be a little thin, best to thicken it with the cornflour mixture. This is done by adding the 2 tablespoons of cornflour to the half a cup of cold water and mixing until a smooth paste.  Stir the chicken mixture lightly so it doesn't break up and add the cornflour mix.

This is served best with cooked Basmati  Rice.