Baked Chicken, Peach & Ginger Curry, Coconut & Basil (Serves 6)

with buttery pilau, pomegranate & mint riata – This is proposed as a ‘dry curry’. As such the sauce should have a textured, viscous consistency.

What you need

Chicken Ingredients:

6 Chicken supremes, bone-in, French trimmed

20g Green Saffron Crackin’ Curry Powder, Tikka, Tandoori or Korma spice blend

Sea salt, to taste

Plenty Basil leaves, torn for garnish

 

Coconut Curry Sauce Ingredients:

50g butter, unsalted, diced

150g onion, 10mm diced

10g ginger, blitzed

15g Green Saffron Crackin’ Curry Powder, Tikka, Tandoori or Korma spice blend

10g cornflour

125ml best chicken stock

165ml cider, dry

Sea salt, to taste

100g coconut cream, full fat

(cooking juices from the chicken)

 

Peach Ingredients:

3 x ripe peaches, halved, stoned

75g light brown sugar

20g ginger, micro-planed

Pinch sea salt

 

Pilau Ingredients:

1 medium brown onion, finely diced

80g butter, diced

splash of vegetable oil

2 cups of Green Saffron Aged Basmati rice

6 cups of hot water

½ tsp turmeric powder

Sea salt to taste

 

Pomegranate, Mint Ingredients:

200ml, crème fraîche, full fat

100ml, Greek natural, plain yoghurt, full fat

¼ pomegranate seeds no pith and its juice

1 tbsp freshly sliced mint

½ lime, zest

How to make it

For the chicken:

  1. Season then roast the chicken supremes in an oven to ‘just cooked’. Keep the cooking juices.
  2. Slice into three even slices on the bias.
  3. Store the supremes in a gastro tray, each supporting one another to maintain shape. Chill & set aside.

For the coconut curry sauce:

  1. Gently heat a straight-sided, heavy-bottomed pan, then add 30g of the butter and allow to melt. Add the onions, ginger and gently fry to soften them
  2. Next, add the Crackin’ Curry powder, cornflour and cook-out gently for another couple of minutes
  3. Add the stock and dry cider turn up the heat, add salt, whisk well, cook gently for 3 minutes stirring frequently then remove from the heat. Add the coconut cream, chicken roasting juices and remaining butter
  4. Chill and set aside, refrigerate. Your sauce should be textured (diced onions) with the viscosity of thick double cream when it’s warm.

For the peach:

  1. Preheat oven to 165˚C
  2. Mix the sugar, ginger and salt.
  3. Place the peaches onto a roasting tray cut side up, sprinkle with the sugar, then pop in the oven until the peach just wilts and lightly chars. Set aside
  4. Serve warm

How to make the rice dish:

Firstly, turn on your oven to 180ºC or Gas Mark 4 to ‘pre-heat’ it

  1. Melt 40g of the butter in a casserole dish over a gentle heat, then add a splash of oil the onion and sweat until it’s good and soft. Tip in the rice, then stir around for a minute or two, coating all the grains with the melted butter
  2. Next, pour the hot water into the casserole, sprinkle in the turmeric, give it a quick but gentle stir
  3. Cover the casserole dish with a tight-fitting lid or tin foil and place on a middle shelf in your pre-heated oven.
  4. After 10 – 15 minutes check the dish see if all the liquid has been absorbed
  5. Remove from the oven, take off the lid or gingerly rip off the foil, add the remaining 40g of butter, a little salt and gently combine all ingredients with a fork and serve immediately…simple!

For the pomegranate mint:

  1. Add all the ingredients, crème fraîche, yoghurt, pomegranate seeds, juice, mint and lime zest into a bowl, gently mix. Set aside in a fridge.

Assembly:

  • Heat the chicken supremes in the sauce
  • On a plate, spoon on some pilau, place the supreme on top. Coat generously with the sauce. Pop a warmed peach half on top, sprinkle with torn basil leaves, spoon a generous dollop/quenelle of riata to the side. Delicious!

 

 

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