Aromatic chicken curry recipe

Make this curry with its fragant flavours of cinnamon, cardamom and star anise - you won't need that Indian takeaway menu!

Ingredients

• 2tsp vegetable oil
• 6 skinned chicken thigh fillets, trimmed of fat, halved
• 1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• 2tbsp Kashmiri curry paste
• 250g carton low-fat Greek yogurt
• 25-30g (about 1oz) fresh coriander leaves and stalks, chopped
• 60g (2oz) sultanas

To serve:

• 300g (10oz) basmati rice
• 1 cinnamon stick, 4 cardamom pods and 2 star anise, to flavour the rice, optional
• 100g (31/2oz) green beans, chopped into short lengths
• Fresh coriander leaves, to garnish
• Mango chutney and low-fat yogurt, flavoured with chopped spring onions

Method

1. To make this chicken curry, (opens in new tab) heat a large frying pan, add the oil and fry the pieces of chicken for 5 mins, until they brown on the underside. Turn them over and cook them for another few minutes. Remove from pan, leaving pan juices, and set aside.
2. Add the onion, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks and crushed cardamom to the pan and cook until the onion is softened - for about 5 mins.
3. Put the chicken back in to pan. Add the curry paste, yogurt, 150ml (¼ pint) warm water, coriander and sultanas. Stir well, cover with a lid and cook for 20-25 mins over a very low heat. Add more water if the curry doesn't have enough sauce for you.
4. Cook the rice, along with the spices, if liked, following the pack instructions, adding the green beans halfway through cooking. Drain off any water. Serve rice with the curry, garnished with coriander, and mango chutney and flavoured yogurt, if you like. (Not suitable for freezing).