the budget cookery group

Had the budget cookery group round this afternoon. We had our usual laugh, then made some Carrot and Tahini Hummus, a Mixed Nut and Seed Butter, then a glorious Goan Fish Curry. It was gorgeous! The recipe is adapted from the Indian book I spoke of recently.

We used some value frozen fish and large prawns, but that came out at over £1 a portion. So I costed it using chicken and it came out fine, so that’s what’s used below.

Goan Chicken Curry

All ingredients from Aldi
500g frozen Chicken breast fillets, £3.33/kg, 500g/£1.12
Tin coconut milk 79p
1.5 tsp Turmeric, 49p/40g, 4p
Tsp Cumin, 49p/45g, 3p
Tsp Coriander, 49p/45g, 3p
Tsp Black pepper, coarse ground, £1.19/100g, 3p
Clove Garlic, 85p for 4, 3p
5cm fresh Ginger, chopped very fine.  55p/pack, 3p
Vegetable oil, 89p/litre, 3p
2 Onions, chopped, 55p/kilo, 11p

Total cost £2.24, 56p a serving

Defrost the chicken and chop into bite sized pieces.

In a large pan or wok, gently fry the onions in the oil until transparent. Add all the spices and sizzle gently for a minute, mind they don’t catch. Add a splash of water if they look like they might.

Now add the coconut milk and the chicken. Cook gently until the chicken is cooked through.

Check the seasoning and serve with your choice of carb. Value rice, a chapatti or two, or even over pasta or a jacket potato.

Variations

If you have the funds, replace the chicken with 500g frozen value fish, chopped into large lumps, and 150g large prawns to reproduce the version we cooked today. Cook the defrosted fish gently in the sauce for a minute or two, until the fish is just cooked. Then stir through the prawns to warm.

We used a mixture of value pollock and basa fillets today from Sainsburys. The basa fillets had much the nicer texture. The cheapest fish in Aldi is also basa, at £1.49 for 400g, so perfect for this.

The original recipe had a tbslp lemon juice and 25g tamarind paste, both of which I completely forgot to add! The tamarind seems rather a lot, it’s strong stuff! But I really, really liked it just as it was.

To make the dish vegetarian (and vegan) replace the chicken with well softened chick peas; a tin of well rinsed kidney beans; a tin of baked beans, rinsed well to remove the sauce, or any combination of beans and pulses.

Add more veg if you want to. Bean sprouts would work well, shredded cabbage or mushrooms.

I am so pleased to have found this recipe. It was very quick to make and I shall be making it often