Chicken Jalfrezi

Curry is another dish that is not only a hit at our house but it is one style of food that all of us love experimenting with. Not only do we like curries that have varying depth of heat, texture and body we also love curries from all around the world, not just the usual Indian. Thai's make a good curry as do the Japenese - I guess it depends what flavour/style you are fancying at the time.

Jalfrezi is a quicker style curry (somewhat a tomato gravy) but to be totally honest I am not sure if it originated in India or Pakistan. Whichever, its a curry that is of a medium heat rating but can be made hotter with the use of more chilli, dependant on your tastes. I used 1/2 teapsoon of chilli powder and it was just nice, Oliver (11) liked it but Alexandria (8) said it was too hot.

This curry had a nice overall flavour and great texture. Especially adding the capsicum later in the cooking process is great. I loved the crisp capsicum, which added another dimesion to this dish. There are many variations to the "Jelfrezi" recipe collection. This recipe was supplied by ***Rach, from the WW Forums, who I do need to thank for posting the recipe and introducing us to a very nice dish.

Chicken Jalfrezi

Serves: 4

Points per serve: 4

700g skinless, boneless chicken breast or thigh

juice 1/2 lemon

1 tsp salt

cooking spray

1 large onion, finely chopped

2tsp crushed garlic

2 tsp crushed ginger

1/2 tsp ground tumeric

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 - 1 tsp chilli powder

1 x 400g tin diced tomatoes

150ml warm water

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

1 large red capsicum, deseeded and cut into 2.5cm pieces

1 large green capsicum, deseeded and cut into 2.5cm pieces

1 tsp garam masala

Cut chicken inton 2.5cm cubes and put in non metallic bowl. Add lemon juice and salt and rub well into the chicken. Cover and leave to marinate in fridge for 20 mins.

Spray oil in pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently for 8-9 mins, until lightly browned. Add garlic and ginger purees and cook, stirring for 3 mins. Add tumeric, cumin, coriander and chilli powder and cook, stirring for 1 min. Add tomatoes and cook for 2-3 mins, stirring frequently. Add marinated chicken and increase heat slightly and cook, stirring until it changes colour. Add the warm water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 25mins.

Spray pan with oil. Add garlic and cook, stirring frequently until browned. Add capsicums, increase the heat to medium and stir fry for 2 mins the stir in the garam masala. Fold the capsicum mixture in to the curry.

(click here for a printable version of this recipe)