'Pukka' Chicken Curry

I decided to upgrade my curry cooking skills and try a meat one, and I found this great looking one on Jamie Oliver's website so I decided to try it out.

I've gotta say I was quite disappointed with this curry, wasn't as big a fan as I was of my chickpea and spinach one but maybe that's because I tweaked it a little! As I am a poor student with no money and only my spice box to keep me company in the kitchen (!!) I decided that I could skip out on Jamie's wonderful fresh garlic, ginger and chillies and substitute for the powdered versions, which just don't pack as much of a punch when it comes to flavour unfortunately.

Another mistake that I think I made was that I didn't fry the curry paste for long enough, so all of the spices tasted quite raw rather than nicely blended.

That all said, it wasn't a disaster, it still tasted spicy and hot, and the sauce had a very subtle sweet undertone which was quite pleasant. Also, Jamie didn't lie about the softness of the chicken - practically falls of the bone which was a lovely texture. I also really liked the chickpeas in this curry - extra punch of protein and fibre, which bulks out the meal and means you need less chicken per serving - healthy and cheap!

The aesthetic qualities of this curry didn't quite match up to Jamie's either (I used coriander straight from the freezer so it kinda dissolved as soon as it hit the pan!) and the flash on the curry pic looks really weird but I thought I'd post the picture anyway!

PS - This actually tasted better on day 2 - gave the flavours a chance to develop!