Curry Night

This is the second home made curry I have posted but it is quite different and quicker than Pete's Lamb Curry blogged a while ago.  We're actually going out for a curry tonight but I thought I'd post this much loved recipe anyway. If you make the basic sauce you can decide whether you want to use chicken or a veggie version so it's really versatile and originates from Mr Jamie Oliver's Happy Days Book. 

Ingredients for the Sauce 
5 tbsp sunflower oil or ghee if you have some in the fridge
2 teasp mustard seeds
1 teasp fenugreek seeds
3 fresh green chillies, deseeded and thinly sliced
1 handful of curry leaves
2 thumb sized pieces of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely grated
2-3 onions, peeled and finely chopped
1 teasp chilli powder
1 teasp turmeric
6 juicy tomatoes, chopped
400ml tin of coconut milk
Salt to taste.

Chicken version
4 chicken breasts, sliced into 1cm wide strips
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, crushed.

Vegetable version
800g mixed vegetables, chopped (potatoes, courgettes, peppers, onions, sweet potatoes, spinach, chard cauliflower, beans etc.

Method
Heat the oil in the pan and when hot add the mustard seeds.  Once they have popped then add the fenugreek seeds,  green chillies, curry leaves and ginger.   Stir and cook for a few minutes.  Add the chopped onions and continue to cook for another 5 minutes until the onion is light brown and soft, then add the chilli powder and turmeric.  Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes then add about 150-200 mls water and the coconut milk.  Simmer for 5 minutes until it has the consistency of double cream, then taste and season carefully with the salt.  This is the basic sauce.

For the chicken version, stir fry the chicken strips and coriander seeds until lightly coloured, then add to the basic sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.

For the veggie version,  simply add all the vegetables to the sauce at the beginning when you add the onions.  Cook as normal and simmer until tender.  Garnish with a generous helping of fresh coriander leaves.  I serve it with boiled basmati rice.