chicken, cashew & quinoa curry; dairy & gluten free

Don't ever be scared of creating curry from scratch. It's not as 'faffy' as you may think. And once you've nailed the base, it's adaptable to suit your needs. Add dairy cream & butter for more indulgence, swop chicken for veg & chickpeas for vegetarians, use more tomatoes & chilli for heat......the possibilities are endless....

My chicken, cashew & quinoa curry is fairly mild. It's a great way to get quinoa into kids...without them realising they're eating quinoa....

For the base:

Ground spices: 1 tbsp each: cinnamon, coriander, turmeric, paprika

2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chilli

1 tsp salt

Whole spices: 1 tsp each: fenugreek, mustard seed

3 bay leaves

3 cardamom, crushed

Fresh spices:

1 tbsp ginger, grated

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 onion chopped

Zest & juice 1/2 lemon

200ml water

2 tbsp coconut oil

4 tbsp tomato puree

Method

Warm all the dry spices in a pan for one minute. Remove from heat & transfer to a bowl.

Heat the coconut oil, add the onion & cook until translucent.

Add the garlic & ginger. Cook for a few minutes taking care not to burn the garlic.

Tip the warmed spices into the pan, then mix through the lemon, water & puree. Simmer for ten mins, remove bay leaves & blend until smooth.

For the curry:

1 tbsp coconut oil

4 large chicken breasts, diced

100g dry quinoa

400g tinned, chopped tomatoes

400ml low fat coconut milk

100g cashew nuts

Curry base as above

Method

Heat the oil in a pan & brown the chicken.

Tip in the dry quinoa, stir & cook for a few minutes.

Now pour over your curry base mix. Stir well.

Add the rest of the ingredients & cook over a low heat for 30 minutes. Add a few tablespoons of water if the curry starts to stick to the pan.

Serve with naan or rice.