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TMC Family Recipe Of The Week: Hairy Biker’s Very Good Chicken Balti

The Mum Club4 January 2024

There’s so much to love about this recipe – not least that you can prep it in stages then throw the final meal together at the last minute, so it’s easy to fit into your day. There’s also not a huge amount of washing up, which is no small win either.

Recipe

• 15g butter
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 2 large onions, roughly chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 25g fresh root ginger, roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp medium curry paste, or balti curry paste
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in to bite-sized chunks
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 4 fresh ripe tomatoes, quartered
• 200g baby spinach leaves

Method:

1. To prepare the sauce base, melt the butter with 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan with a lid (or a large saucepan, if your frying pan doesn’t have one). Add the onions, garlic, and ginger, then cover with the lid and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes until very soft, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove the lid from the pan and turn up the heat. Cook the onion mixture for 2-3 minutes more, stirring constantly until well-coloured. Add the curry paste to the pan, turn down the heat slightly and cook with the onions for 3 minutes more, stirring frequently. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the tomato purée.
3. Blitz the spiced onion mixture with the stick blender or processor and blend until smooth as possible. Tip the onion mixture into a bowl and set aside, even up to 3 days. 4. Place the pan used to cook the onion mixture back over a medium heat and add the remaining oil and the chicken pieces. Fry the chicken for 3 minutes, turning often until lightly coloured all over.
5. Add the spiced onion mixture, 175ml just boiled water, salt, sugar and tomatoes, bring to a simmer and cook for 4 mins. Add the spinach a few handfuls at a time, allowing each handful to soften a little before adding the next. Cook for a further minute stirring regularly, or until the chicken is cooked through, the tomatoes are softened and the spinach has completely wilted.
6. That’s it done! We sometimes make this ahead and heat it up when we need it. Serve with rice and or with naan bread.