Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Let them eat Chicken (and mango, and cauliflower)

Kate Coldrick over at A Merrier World is running a blogging event to publicise the very worthy cause of chicken welfare, so I thought I must join in. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Chicken Out campaign really hit home to me, and I now always buy free range chicken. It really does pay off in terms of taste and texture, so the foodie in me is satisfied too.

I used free range chicken breasts from Tesco. They were lovely big, plump breasts (ooh-er!) and stayed tender and moist after cooking too.

Thai Green Chicken & Mango Curry with Spiced Cauliflower (serves 2)

Thai Chicken

2 free range chicken breast, cut into chunks
1 ripe mango, diced
1 tin coconut milk
1 onion
1 large garlic clove
1 green chilli
2 tbsps green Thai curry paste (I use Thai Taste, and freeze the rest in an ice cube tray)
Fish sauce
2 kaffir lime leaves
Vegetable oil


Spiced cauliflower

1/2 a head of cauliflower, cut into florets
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp chilli flakes
Olive oil
1 knob butter

Preheat the oven to 180c (fan assisted)

1. Whizz the onion, garlic and green chilli to a paste in the food processor.
2. Heat the vegetable oil and soften the onion, garlic and chilli in the pan with the curry paste.
3. Add the chicken pieces and brown all over.
4. Meanwhile, blanch or steam the cauliflower for a few minutes (I steamed mine in a microwave steamer).
5. Mix the cauliflower spices and chilli with a good pinch of salt.
6. Toss the cauliflower with the knob of butter and splash of olive oil, then with the spices.
7. Pop the cauliflower into the oven in a baking dish for 15 minutes .
8. Add the mango pieces to the browned chicken mixture.
9. Add the coconut milk to the chicken and mango mixture. Add the lime leaves and a splash of fish sauce. Simmer for 15 mins
10. Enjoy! Serve the curry with steamed jasmine rice if you like...

3 comments:

Unknown said...

That looks absolutely wonderful, Alex! I love Thai green chicken. Thanks for taking part in Let Them Eat Chicken.

Ros said...

Intersting... I hadn't used cauliflower in curries until recently: a bit mad really, as if aloo gobi hadn't been around for ever! My boyfriend was very sceptikal, but it worked really well in a Vietnamese curry.

I have never used mango in a green chicken curry but I imagine it would be really good.I used to love making my own paste but I have had no time this year and the result has been I haven't made green curry for almost a year. I'll bear in mind your recommendation of Thai Taste.

Alex English said...

Cauliflower is a superfood apparently! Yes, mango is pretty tasty and a nice sweet contrast to the spicy sauce - it was a first for me too, although I've had pineapple in the odd Thai curry.