Take-away style 'chicken' curry (oven cooked)

Fancy an indian? Don't want to splurge? I gotchuuu, here is the recipe for my vibrant, creamy, and spicy 'chicken' curry. Never fails to impress and is perfect to prepare in advance for guests or if you are craving a Saturday night takeaway+movie.

Prep time: 30 mins + 2 hours marinating time (or leave it in the fridge overnight)

Cooking time: 40 mins

Difficulty: Medium

Serves: 2 (big portions or 4 lunch portions)

Ingredients:

Marinade

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 white onion

• 2 green chillies

• 400g diced chicken OR smoked tofu

• 1 tbsp meat masala (can be found in the world foods section in the supermarket)

• 1 tsp cumin seeds

• 1 tsp minced garlic

• 1 tsp minced ginger

• 0.5 tsp salt

• 1 cup fresh coriander

• Squeeze of lemon

Sauce

• 200g coconut milk

• 1 tsp tomato puree

To serve

• 50g basmati rice

• Sprigs of fresh coriander

• Wedge of lemon

• Soy yoghurt

Marinate the meat or tofu:

1. In a mixing bowl, coat the diced chicken or tofu in 1 tbsp of olive oil. Make sure each piece is throughly coated.

2. Chop the onion and chillies (take out the seeds if you want to reduce heat) and add these to the bowl. Stir to combine.

3. Add the 1 tbsp of meat masala, 1 tsp of cumin seeds, 1 tsp of minced garlic, 1 tsp of minced ginger, and 0.5 tsp of salt to the mixture and combine.

4. Chop the coriander finely and add to the bowl. Squeeze over half a lemon and then stir to combine everything.

5. Cover the mixture with cling film and leave to marinate in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight. Remove the mixture from the fridge half an hour before cooking.

Cooking:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C (390 °F).

2. Add 200g coconut milk and 1 tsp tomato puree to the marinated mixture and stir to combine.

3. Line an oven proof dish with tin foil (if you want to prevent staining), and then place the mixture in the dish.

4. Bake uncovered in the oven for 40mins, stirring half way.

5. Whilst the curry cooks, prepare some basmati rice on the hob.

To serve:

1. Leave the curry to rest for 10mins before serving (if serving straight from cooking).

2. Plate up with a side of freshly cooked basmati rice, a few sprigs of coriander and a wedge of lemon.
   

Put on a film and enjoy!

Notes: You can use different meats/meat alternatives for this dish. You can also serve it with a bit of soy yoghurt if it is too spicy.

This is one that is really easy to prepare even though there is a marinating time, I like to marinate my tofu before I start work in the morning so it's ready for me to put in the oven when I get home.

Drop a comment below if you give this a go or share it on Instagram! #BEANSFOODBIBLE