Recipes for Home Made Curries > Reviews (15)

Recently I had made some Chicken and Pineapple kebabs for tea and was left with 1/2 a tin of pineapple rings in the fridge. The following day I was thinking what to do for tea using the Pineapple rings and as it was Saturday, it is normally curry night in the Paulpry cottage. My favourite from the local Indian Takeaway is a Chicken Balti Kaghani which is made from mint sauce, cream, pineapple and mushrooms, so with me being the adventurous type when it comes to cooking thought I would try to make it. I gave it a go and served it up to my husband without telling him what it was it it tasted nearly as good as the one from the Indian.

This curry is a flavoursome curry with using cream and mint sauce.

So here is the recipe.

Serves Two

1 Onion chopped 18p
1 Chicken Breast per person cubed about £1.50 per Breast
2 fresh Green or Red Chillies (depending how spicy you want it) seeds removed and chopped about 25p *

1 inch cube of Root Ginger peeled and grated or 1 teaspoon of Bart Ginger in sunflower oil about 10p*
1 Clove Garlic peeled and crushed 7p or 1 teaspoon of Bart Garlic in Sunflower oil about 10p*
3 teaspoons Ground Cumin (Tesco own brand) 21p)*
1 teaspoon Ground Coriander (Tesco own brand) 8p)*
1 teaspoon Chilli Powder (Tesco own brand) 5p)*
1 teaspoon ground Turmeric (Tesco own brand) 8p)*
284ml Single Cream (Elmlea its cheaper) 60p
150g Mushrooms sliced 35p
1 small tin Pineapple Slices in juice cubed 33p
125g Cherry Tomatoes quartered 20p
2 tablespoons Mint Sauce 2p
2 Indian Oxo Cubes 26p (The only place I have seen these sold at is the Coop)*
2 teaspoons Cornflour
1 teaspoon Garam Masala 10p*

*Alternatively if you don't want to buy all the different spices you could use two tablespoons of Pataks Curry pastes in whichever spice you want (I like my curries medium so I would use either the Balti or Rogan Josh versions). These work out about 50p for two tablespoons.

Method.

In a large saucepan fry the onions in a little oil for about two minutes over a medium heat, if using the spices add the chillies, ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander, chilli powder and turmeric with a couple of tablespoons of water and fry for about five minutes (if using curry paste add a little later). Mix in the chicken and fry for about 10 minutes then add the mushrooms and fry for a further 5 - 10 minutes. Pour in the cream and mint sauce and crumble the oxo cubes in (if using the curry paste mix it in now) and stir, leave to simmer for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the pineapple cubes and chopped cherry tomatoes and simmer for a further 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Mix the cornflour with a little water and add to the mixture stir until thick and add the Garam Masala and stir in. Turn off the heat cover and leave to stand for about 5 minutes.

Serve with boiled Basmati rice and Naan breads.

Notes:

If when you taste the curry, it is is a bit too spicy for you add some natural yoghurt this reduces the amount of heat from the spices.

If using the Pataks Curry Sauce, you tend to get a layer of reddish color fat like substance on top, just give it a good stir before serving and this will mix it in.

This costs about £7.00 for two people, my local Indian restaurant charges £7.95 (takeaway price) for one portion the naan bread costs extra.

****************************************​********** *

Another dish I do quite often are Naan Bread Pizzas. This is basically a naan bread, covered with a mushroom bhaji, topped with some Chicken tikka and grated cheese. I tend to use any cooked chicken I have left over from a roast chicken.

Naan Bread Pizzas.

Serves Two

2 Naan Breads (Tesco own brand) 99p
Some cooked Chicken cubed. (Left over from Sunday Lunch)
1 medium Onion chopped 18p
1 Clove Garlic peeled and crushed 7p
1/2 teaspoon Ground Turmeric 4p
1 teaspoon Ground Coriander 8p
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin 7p
1 tablespoon Tomato Puree 10p
225g Mushrooms sliced 60p
2 tablespoons Pataks Tikka paste 50p
1 small carton Natural Yoghurt 51p
250g Grated Mozzarella Cheese £1.44
Handful of fresh Coriander leaves chopped 79p or free if grown in garden

Method

Night before you want these mix the tikka paste with the yoghurt and pour over the chicken stir well and leave to marinade overnight.

Pre heat the oven to Gas mark 6, 200 centigrade.

In a frying pan, fry the onion with a little oil for about 4 minutes over a medium heat. Lower the heat and add the garlic, turmeric, chilli powder and cumin and about 2 tablespoons water and fry for about 5 minutes. Add the tomato puree and mushroom, stir well to thoroughly mix add two tablespoons water cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. The end result should have a thick sauce, if it is a bit runny remove the lid and simmer until thicker.

Spread the mixture onto the naan breads sprinkle the chicken over the top then cover the the grated cheese and the chopped coriander. Bake on a baking try for about 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and going slightly brown.

Serve with a salad if you want.

I have a bread maker so tend to make my own Naan bread dough. I divide the dough into two and place into two pizza baking trays and leave in the airing cupboard for about 1 hour. I then part bake the naan breads in the oven for about 15 minutes then make as above.

The above recipe costs about £5.50 for two people and makes a tasty different variation to the standard pizza.

When cooking I tend to use Tesco own brand and Tesco value ingredients when possible, it cuts costs.

All prices are taken from www.mysupermarket.co.uk

I shall be naking the pizzas next week so I will add a photo of them sometime after.

Many thanks for reading. Anna