This Chicken Curry is a delicious slow cooked, pulled chicken thigh curry which is low in fat and high on taste!
I have recently become a huge fan of chicken thighs as the price of chicken breast seems to be sky rocketing lately. Plus as well as being far cheaper they are actually tastier and more succulent than breast meat. So becoming bored with roasting thighs with various herbs and spices etc I wanted to find something a bit healthier to do with them.
A few clicks on the computer lead me to Martha Stewart’s recipe for Chicken Curry which was slow cooked and used skinless chicken thigh where the meat was pulled at the end so there were no bones to fiddle with. Her recipe involved putting raw chicken straight into the slow cooker and I knew that the instructions on mine stipulated that only hot food should be put in it from the onset.
Hence I gave Martha’s recipe a complete makeover and also upped the amount of Madras curry powder in it and made the coconut milk with powdered coconut milk to lower the fat content.
I have been meaning to enter Dom’s Random Recipes challenge (Belleau Kitchen) for such a very long time and remember last year taking photos of all my cook books for one of his challenges but time has always worked against me. Then recently on a random recipe challenge the “randomater” wanted me to make something with lobster so I gave up on that month! This month Dom just wanted a healthy recipe (he’s not been a well bunny recently) from the internet or a book so finally after a year I am entering the Random Recipes challenge.
With all the changes I made to the method of this recipe I had no idea if it would work but I’m pleased to say it was really delicious and was enjoyed by myself, my husband and son. My daughter won’t touch chicken thigh meat so the next day with the portion that was left over I made 2 portions of soup by adding some chicken stock and a bit more coconut milk powder – now that’s thrifty!
I’m entering Credit Crunch Munch as all the ingredients in this dish are really inexpensive. This challenge is run by myself and Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and being hosted by Anneli at Delicieux this month. Finally I am also entering my curry into Javelin Warrior’s Cookin w’luv Made with Love Mondays challenge as this dish is made from scratch.
I served my curry with some Mint Raita which I made with Greek yogurt mixed with some freshly chopped mint leaves and chunks of cucumber. I also made a tomato and red onion relish to which I would have added some chopped coriander if I’d had some and then I added a ramekin of mango chutney to the line up. We’ve even been known to serve sliced banana with our curries!
Here’s a step by step guide:
Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Rapeseed oil
- 1 Kg Chicken thighs skinned
- 2 Onions finely sliced
- 30 g Ginger root finely diced
- 8 Cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 4 tbsp Madras curry powder
- 2 tsp Cumin
- 2 tsp Coriander
- 2 tsp Course salt
- 8 tsp Coconut milk powder mixed with 500mls warm water
- 250 g Frozen peas
- Coriander to garnish optional
Instructions
- In a frying pan brown the chicken thighs in 1 tbsp of oil.
- Place in the slow cooker.
- Then add another tbsp of oil and fry the onion gently for a few minutes.
- Add the garlic, ginger, salt, cumin, coriander and curry powder.
- Cook for another couple of minutes.
- Add the coconut milk, then add the onion mixture to the chicken breasts.
- Cook on high for about 4 hours.
- Then add the peas and cook for a further 20 minutes
- Meanwhile ransfer the chicken to a bowl and shred on a chopping mat.
- Put the chicken back in the slow cooker to heat up and mix with the sauce.
- Serve on a bed of rice and garnish with coriander.
Maria @ Feisty Tapas
I have become a big fan of chicken thigh fillets too, so much cheaper as you say. I hardly ever buy chicken breasts now, unless they are on offer I’d rather just buy thighs or a whole chicken. I have only recently started cooking curry (I am Spanish, curries are a recent discovery for me), I really like the sound of this
Camilla
Thanks for dropping by:-) We had this curry again this week as the boys in my family love it! I find my thighs for £1.99 so it’s a really cheap meal.
Carriecakes
Just wanted to say a massive thank-you for your delicious recipes! My husband has taken note of some of the things he wants to try out (think this ones first!) The pictures are also superb! 🙂
Camilla
Aah thank you so much that’s really made my day, hope you enjoy the curry:-)
Javelin Warrior
Wonderful use of chicken thighs, Camilla! The shredding must make the chicken so tender… I’ve also never seen powdered coconut milk before, so I’m going to have to look for that. A wonderful way to avoid something from a can…
Camilla
Thanks Mark. They were so much nicer off the bone so will do this again with other thigh dishes. Hope you find some powdered coconut milk, I had no idea so many people didn’t know about it!
Jacqueline @How to be a Gourmand
What a fabulous idea! I too have just taken delivery of a batch of chicken thighs but I don’t have a slow cooker ;-(.
I guess I could still slow cook them in a casserole dish. What do you think Camilla?
Camilla
I’d just google a similar dish in a casserole and cook in the oven or hob for a similar amount of time if you don’t have a slow cooker. You should get one, mine was a really cheap basic one and it’s so nice to leave something to cook all day and then voila a lovely succulent meal appears later:-)
Dom
chicken thighs are simply the best piece of the chicken… so much flavour and they love a long cook or a short cook… I am a huge fan. plus i’m a huge fan of this glorious happy dish, it looks so beautiful and I bet the flavours were simply gorgeous… thank you so much for entering random recipes, it’s adorable to have you on board!
Camilla
Thank you for such an eloquent appraisal Dom, glad to be on board finally:-)
Dawn @ Words Of Deliciousness
This sounds like an excellent dish. I am a big fan of chicken thighs.
Camilla
Thank you:-)
DANIELLE VEDMORE
Ooooh lokks yummy. I love chicken thighs – just hate seperating the flesh from the skin and the bones! I also didnt know about coconut milk powder! Bet it saves a fortune! xoxo
Camilla
Thank you and glad to be an information service too LOL:-) xxx
Angela
I’m a big fan of chicken thighs but find that so many people don’t eat the ‘dark’ meat from a chicken. Don’t know what they’re missing I say. Love your pictures BTW.
Camilla
Thank Angela. I’ve just started my chicken thigh journey. Thanks for compliment on pictures:-)
Jen @ BlueKitchenBakes
Looks pretty good, I always use chicken thighs now as they are so much cheaper and taste better too. I usually cook them whole but don’t bother picking the bones out before serving, though I imagine that with kids it’s probably a good idea to do that.
Thanks for the tip on coconut milk powder too, I had no idea such a product existed.
Camilla
Thanks Jen. I’m surprised you don’t know about Coconut Milk Powder, I buy the Maggi brand in Tesco:-)
Jen @ BlueKitchenBakes
Excellent, I will have a look for it next time I go shopping. I tend to use creamed coconut dissolved in water as tinned coconut milk seems to be really expensive most of the time.
Anneli (Delicieux)
I am a huge fan of chicken thighs over breasts. They really are so much more flavoursome. And in the slow cooker they are just sublime, falling off the bone, extra juicy and yummy. Your curry is right up my alley and looks great. Definitely one I am bookmarking for my family. Thanks – great entry for Credit Crunch Munch x
Camilla
Hi Anneli, I found your comment in my Spam so hope I’ve never missed any others, must check it now somehow but there were 700 here! I hope your family enjoy the curry, my daughter isn’t a curry fan so it’s just the 3 of us on it but you can’t please all tastes in our family!