Please help me make a chicken curry or similar

Sunshine_and_Roses

Before I cheat and open a jar of Tikka Masala sauce, I could do with using up some stuff in the cupboards that I bought with good intentions.

I have a whole chicken that I was planning on using the breasts tonight then putting the rest in the slow cooker overnight.  Other items I have are:

A tin of reduced fat coconut milk
A tin of plum tomatoes / carton of passata
Small pot of Thai red curry paste (BBE March 2022!!)
Small pot of Tikka Masala paste (BBE July 2022!!)
Dried spices - cumin, coriander, turmeric, garlic granules, chilli etc, very old garam masala
Peppers, red onions, mushrooms, fine green beans.

I have never cooked a curry dish from scratch as I don't know whether I will get the balance of spices right.  Any advice would be appreciated before I use the ready made jar!!

joedenise

It really depends on what sort of curry you want.  A Thai curry is milder than an Indian curry generally.

I make a curry just using a base of onions, garlic and ginger.  Fry them off until onions have softened then add some curry powder to coat.  Once that is done add a tin of chopped tomatoes (or can use passata).  Cook for a while then add some chopped chicken and cook in the sauce until the chicken is cooked.  Sprinkle with chopped coriander if you like.

Serve with some plain boiled rice.

FFHillbilly

the 2 jars of paste you have listed are already a combination of the spices you need for either type of curry, so if you use one of them you don't normally need to add separate spices, unless you want to.
the only difference between the pots of curry paste and the "cheat jar of sauce " you mention is the cheat jar is already bulked up with tomato sauce, you could create the same thing with 1-2 tablespoon of curry paste and a tin of chopped tomatoes, or a tin or chopped tomatoes and a whole load of different spices

maisie_cat

joedenise said:

It really depends on what sort of curry you want.  A Thai curry is milder than an Indian curry generally.

I make a curry just using a base of onions, garlic and ginger.  Fry them off until onions have softened then add some curry powder to coat.  Once that is done add a tin of chopped tomatoes (or can use passata).  Cook for a while then add some chopped chicken and cook in the sauce until the chicken is cooked.  Sprinkle with chopped coriander if you like.

Serve with some plain boiled rice.

This is broadly what I do, saute the aromatics, add any other veg lingering in the fridge and coat with the dry spices. Once the spices/aromatics are sauteed and your kitchen smells wonderful add the wet stuff and any cooked beans or uncooked lentils, frozen spinach (or nettles in my case)  if using.
I tend to pressure cook for 1 minute to cook any root veg and then add any coconut oil or peanut butter, change the setting to slow cook (lid off)  to reduce over time. At that point I'll add any extra spices in the form of pastes to taste. 
Curry is my best throw together cheap fridge gravel/foraged food dinner.

Sunshine_and_Roses

Thanks all.  Rice is on, and green pepper, onion, mushroom have been softened then added chicken breast which I coated in the out of date tikka paste.  This is cooking away then I will add the passata and see how it goes

Sunshine_and_Roses

It was a success - thank you!!