Hairy Bikers' chicken curry

• Serves:6
• Prep time:15 mins
• Cooking time:40 mins
• Total time:55 mins
• Skill level:Bit of effort
• Costs:Mid-price

The Hairy Bikers' chicken curry recipe is one that you'll want to make time and time again. Taking only 55 mins in total to prepare and cook and serving 6 people, this hearty chicken curry is the perfect takeaway alternative on a Saturday night. Bursting full of flavour this chicken curry is made with a homemade tarka masala sauce infused with garlic, root ginger and green chillies. This chicken in this recipe is cooked until tender and succulent. Serve with naan bread or rice. This recipe is taken from Mums Know Best: The Hairy Bikers' Family Cookbook.

Ingredients

• 1kg boneless chicken breasts, cut into big chunks
• 1½ tsp ground black peppercorns and coriander seeds
• ¾tsp garam masala (blend of Indian spices, which you'll find in your local supermarket)
• 1tsp paprika
• 1½ tsp turmeric
• ½tsp red chilli flakes
• 2 fresh tomatoes, sliced
• Handful of fresh coriander, chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 450ml water

For the tarka masala sauce:

• 3tbsp sunflower oil, ghee or olive oil
• 2tsp cumin seeds
• 2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
• 1 head of garlic, cloves peeled and chopped
• Small tin of chopped tomatoes
• 5cm piece of root ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 whole green chillies

Method

1. Wash the chicken and drain it well. 
2. For the tarka masala sauce: Heat the oil in a large pan until fairly hot, add the cumin seeds and fry for 10 secs. Add the onions and fry until golden brown, then add the garlic and fry until slightly golden. Drain the tomatoes (keep the juice) and add them to the pan. Next add the ginger, chillies and cook until the oil begins to separate.
3. Put the chicken, salt, spices and chilli flakes into the pan and cook over a fairly high heat. Keep turning the chicken and continue to cook until the meat is sealed and browned and the liquid has evaporated. Add the juice from the can of tomatoes and about 450ml of water, bring to the boil and simmer over a medium heat for about 15 mins or until the chicken is tender. Add the fresh tomatoes about 3 mins before the end of the cooking time.
4. Sprinkle in the fresh coriander and bay leaves and serve with chapattis, boiled rice or puris (Indian bread).

This recipe is taken from Mums Know Best: The Hairy Bikers' Family Cookbook, £20 from Weidenfeld & Nicolson. The book is also available from Amazon.co.uk. The Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best is on BBC2 at 8pm everyday Tuesday, from 5th January 2010 for six weeks.

Remove the seeds in hot peppers before cooking. This reduces the heat for our kids but still leaves some flavour for the adults.

Sam Brown, 31, Warrington, Cheshire

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