Keith Floyd has to be one of my favourite television chefs of all time. Quirky, eccentric and always brimming with red wine, he is one of my food heroes. He cooks how I like to cook. With alcohol always to hand whether the recipe requires it or not (he knew how to live!) One of the best things about Keith was the way he went with the flow and made everything look enjoyable and easy. I loved watching him and his honest and straight forward attitude.
In honour of Keith, I thought I'd choose one of his recipes for one of the most important nights of many a British person's week: "Curry Night". We're still in January. Still?! The credit card bill has arrived, the only sweets left at the bottom of my Quality Street tin are the horrid ones I don't like (probably a good thing really!) and it's all rather gloomy and depressing. What better to cheer oneself than a homemade Ruby? Cheaper, better for you and actually amazingly easy to do. Keith's recipe was originally for chicken but I fancied turning it vegetarian so I substituted the chicken for vegetables of my choice which included carrot, sweet potato, broccoli and mango.
Taking just over one hour to complete I found this recipe really simple. Despite the fact it didn't include any quantities whatsoever! Typical Keith Floyd cooking! I was happy as it suits my style of "make it up as you go along" (I'm not often wholly true to a recipe) and it is a good way to learn what does and doesn't work and develop a palate. For the benefit of this blog I will include my quantities as I was so pleased with the result I would definitely cook this one again in the same way. I served with an onion and cumin seed pilau rice (really straightforward - recipe also below).
Here it is. I hope you enjoy as much as I did.
Keith Floyd's Chicken Curry (or in my case Vegetable Curry!) - Quantities make enough for 2 very hungry people or 4 people who eat a bit less!
Filet of leg of chicken (or substitute for vegetables - I used sweet potato, 1 large carrot, broccoli and half a mango)
Sweet potato - my potato was huge so I used half of it cut into small chunks
Coconut milk - 1 can (if you want to use light do but I never find the light stuff any good in a curry - too thin!)
Finely chopped onion - 1 large or 2 small
Garlic - 3 cloves
Yellow curry powder - 1 tablespoon
Ground turmeric - 1 teaspoon
Crushed dried chillies - a good sprinkling (dependent on your taste)
Fresh chillies - I used two green chillies, de-seeded and finely chopped
Very finely chopped lemongrass - 1 stalk
Chicken stock (or vegetable) - I used about half a pint
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
In a pot with hot oil, add the onions and let brown a little bit then add the garlic. Add the chicken in and let it take colour (instead of chicken I added the sweet potato and carrot at this point). Add the curry powder and turmeric to the pot and stir around, then add the chillies (both fresh and dried), lemon grass, a little bit of sugar (I used a pinch), salt and freshly ground pepper.
Moist with simple chicken stock and simmer gently for about 20 minutes. (I made sure all the veg was covered).
Add the sweet potatoes (if making the chicken version!) and the the coconut milk. Let it thicken for about 10-15 minutes.
In the last 5 minutes I added the broccoli and mango and also a little bit of corn flour paste to thicken it up.
Onion and cumin seed pilau rice
1 onion, finely chopped
Tablespoon of cumin seeds
Pilau Rice
Stock/water (I used the remainder of the chicken stock and added additional water as required)
Soften up the onion in oil and add the cumin seeds. Once onions are soft add rice. Mix together ensuring rice has a good coating of the oil. Add the stock and a bit of water if required and simmer with lid on for about 15-20 minutes.
For rice I always use double the quantity of stock/water to rice (use a measuring jug) and allow to simmer down until the stock/water has nearly evaporated entirely. Do not under any circumstances stir or interfere with the rice while it is simmering as it will become starchy and horrid (remember this is not a risotto!) To check it is cooked use a teaspoon to gently pull away the rice from the edge of the pan. If the stock is more or less gone then it is most like ready (test a bit first).
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