Chinese Chicken Curry

 I really love to make authentic Indian style curries and they're always my go to for when I need something really full of flavour but ...every now and again I yearn for the flavour of a Chinese takeaway curry. I know you can buy the ready made sauce ( and I do have a packet lurking in the cupboard ) but I like to cook and this way I know exactly what is in my food! I found this recipe a good few years ago when dieting ....again !! .... I don't do that anymore for so many reasons but some of the recipes are still  absolutely worth sticking to, this is one of them.

There is a great site called SLIMMINGEATS, I think that it is based in Canada and this recipe comes from there, when you first look at the recipe you really can't imagine how this comes together but it really does and it's worth going back to time and time again.

Ingredients for sauce

100g (3.5oz) of onion, chopped
150g (5.5oz) of courgette chopped
200g (7oz) of butternut squash, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon of grated fresh ginger 
1.5 tablespoon of curry powder ( hot or medium, depending on how hot you like it)
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1 tablespoon of soy sauce (not dark)
1/2 teaspoon of Chinese five spice
3 cups (720ml) of chicken stock
spray oil 

Now, I don't actually use curry powder as I have all the spices, but this is a good fix if you don't want to invest in all the necessary spices for this dish.

Ingredients for curry

450g ( 1lb chicken breast ...I used thighs )

1 large green pepper chopped into chunks

1 large onion chopped roughly into chunks

1/2 cup frozen peas

Spray a frying pan over a medium high heat with spray oil
Add the onion, courgette and butternut squash and fry for 2-3 mins to soften.
Add the garlic and ginger and fry for 1 more minute.
Add the curry powder, Chinese five spice, tomato paste and soy sauce and stir to coat.
Pour in the chicken stock, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20 mins.
Add sauce to a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
Spray frying pan with spray oil, add chicken and fry for approx 5 mins until lightly browned. Remove and set aside.
Spray frying pan again with spray oil, add the onion and green pepper and fry for 2 mins.
Add back in chicken,  pour in the sauce, stir to coat, add peas, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 5 mins, till chicken is cooked through.

As I say, I have changed some of the quantities to better suit my taste, I certainly always want more garlic and ginger than the recipes call for but this is pretty close to the original recipe, it tastes amazing, we have it served with plain boiled rice.