Chicken Jalfrezi

I faancied doing a chicken jalfrezi recipe in the style of an English Curry House as two of my sons were partial to it but without the peppers. this recipe actually includes peppers as I don't feel that they can be left out without taking something good away from the dish. I accept of course that an authentic Bengali recipe would not have the peppers anyway.

Ingredients

• 2 large chicken breasts

• 2 tbsp ghee

• 1 large onion thickly sliced

• 1 red bell pepper (also thickly sliced)

• 1 green bell pepper (also thickly sliced)

• 1 yellow bell pepper (also thickly sliced)

• 2 to 3 green chilies, slit

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

• 200g passata

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

• 1 tsp chilli powder

• 1 tsp turmeric

• 1 tsp garam masal

• salt to taste

Method

Stir fry the chicken pieces in the ghee (or oil) until almost cooked then remove and set aside.

In the same pan on a high heat add the onions and cook until softened but still retaining some crispness. Add the peppers and the green chilies and stir fry for a further 3 - 5 minutes. You want them to keep some crunch in them so don't overcook.

Add the minced garlic and grated ginger and cook for about 30 seconds to a minute, stiring to prevent sticking then add the cumin, coriander, chilli and turmeric. fry briefly until fragrant.

Stir in the tomato pasata and cook for a few minutes more until the sauce looks glossy.

Return the chicken to the pan and stir to distribute and coat. Heat on high for 2 to 4 minutes then sprinkle in the garam masala. Heat a further 30 seconds and then you are done. Serve with plain boiled rice.

Observations

The sauce should be dry-ish but using pasata instead of chopped tomatoes (fresh or tinned) then the sauce was a little more liquid (which we preferred).

The onions, peppers and chilies should retain a light crunch to them and not be too soft.

You need to use high heat for most of the cooking so watch out for sticking and burning.

Half a tin of chopped tomatoes or two large fresh tomatoes lightly chopped could replace the pasata.

You could use paprika if you can't get Kashmiri chilli powder. Vary the chilli powder and number of green chilies to suit your own heat preference.

The garam masala goes in a the end ( and it would be better more flavourful to make your own).