This is a super-fast post, because I can’t seem to string together more than 15 minutes in front of the computer these days.  I also slashed the tip of my thumb open on my mandolin making the sprouts recipe earlier this week and it hurts to type.  This recipe was a rip-roaring surprise of a success last night and the 2, 5 and 7 year olds ate ADULT portions of it.  Crucially for children, it is mild, but far from dull as it is very aromatic.  I know my kids are not the norm, but I believe that if you expect a lot from them, they will deliver.  I held my breath with my back turned as they first tucked in, and lo and behold, they did not complain, far from it!

I will come back and replace my iphone pics with high-res. photos to accompany this recipe when I next make it as this one doesn’t really do it justice.  I instagrammed yesterday evening’s results and whole load of people asked for the recipe.  I ate the leftovers for lunch today with my husband, it was so tasty, although I confess it was spiked with chillies for our palates and worked wonderfully too.  You know something is good when you eat it several meals in a row with no complaint.   I think you could substitute the chicken with sweet potato or tofu and make it veggie… I’ll give it a whirl and let you know. 

I call it lightning curry as:

1. it can be made in a flash (literally the time it takes to cook the rice)
2. it is like a dazzling lightning bolt of golden energy beaming right in to your winter kitchen, eradicating doom, gloom and viruses.
3. it can almost qualify as a non-vegetarian detox style dish and is most certainly healthy if not vegan therefore is could technically be part of a weightloss programme (“lightening”, geddit?)

The short, basic formula for any easy, fast curry is as follows:

1. chop everything before hand
2. make  a curry paste with herbs, spices and roots in a chopper (or use shop-bought)
3. fry onions (a bit like soffritto)
4. add paste to onions
5. add meat or main star ingredient to onions
6. sear main ingredient to seal in flavour before adding liquid
7. pour in liquid (be it stock, water, coconut milk)
8. bring to boil
9. THEN add tender veg (or else they will become mush)
10. turn off heat and season
11. garnish well with something pretty and colourful eg. chillies / spring onions / coriander (cilantro)

The detailed version, for this curry however, is:

The curry in the photo was a mild version in its original incarnation, but it morphed in to a spicy one once my husband and I were having it as left overs on day 2. If you like heat, then use chillies. If not, this is a great recipe, as unlike when I use quality, shop-bought Thai curry pastes, you get to decide on how spicy you want it to be. The cooking time of the rice (if you use a rice-cooker) is more than sufficient to get on with the rest if you use a chopper to mince up all your spices and roots etc. We use a rice cooker a lot in our house - I used to think they were just another unnecessary piece of kitchen kit, until my husband brought one into my life after being converted to its wisdom during a stint living in Asia. In actual fact I have grown to really appreciate this gadget very recently on discovering that I can cook dried beans or split peas in a fraction of the time and even then, they no longer give me bloating nor do they retain that grassy, overly "al dente" chalkiness that can make them so unappealing. The other advantage is that I can be on the school run or whatever, while the rice-cooker bubbles away, basically leaving it to get on with things. If I have understood correctly, a rice-cooker is not a pressure cooker, but the seal in the rice cooker somehow amplifies the cooking speed and thoroughness. Secondly, if you want to prepare ahead, you could chop your meat and marinate it in half the spices as much as a day in advance if you fancy (I did not, and it was still wonderful). The other half is best fried over with the onions and the marinated meat/spice mixture then added. Whenever you cook meat, be sure to let it come to room temperature before cooking as otherwise it will clench up like a scared mollusc and end up tough and chewy. The thermal shock on the muscle-fibres makes them shorten, whereas if you don't subject, it to unnaturally extreme spikes in heat, it yields and becomes tender. With this in mind, remove your meat from the fridge at least 15 minutes before you want to throw it in the pan.