Sri Lankan cashew chicken curry
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- Easy
- Serves 4
Ingredients
- 200g cashews
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 500g skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 onion, chopped
- a thumb-sized piece ginger, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 green chillies, deseeded and chopped
- 400g tin coconut milk
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 250g green beans, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 200g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 lime, juiced
- a small bunch coriander, roughly chopped
- to serve rice or roti
SRI LANKAN CURRY POWDER
- 4 cardamom pods, seeds extracted, shells discarded
- 1 tsp basmati rice
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 4 cloves
Method
- STEP 1
To make the Sri Lankan curry powder, put all of the ingredients into a large, deep frying pan and cook over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until lightly browned and smelling toasty. Cool, then tip into a spice grinder or use a pestle and mortar to grind to a powder.
- STEP 2
Tip the cashews into the pan and toast for 2-3 minutes or until caramelised, then tip onto a plate to cool.
- STEP 3
Heat the coconut oil in the same pan and cook the chicken thigh pieces for 5 minutes on each side until really golden, then scoop out onto a plate.
- STEP 4
Put the onion, ginger, garlic and chillies into a food processor or blender with ½ of the toasted cashews and 50ml of water, and whizz to a paste.
- STEP 5
Tip the spice mix into the pan and cook gently for 1 minute. Add the cashew paste and cook gently for 10 minutes until thickened. Tip in the coconut milk with 250ml of water, the cinnamon stick, chicken and the rest of the cashews, and simmer for 30 minutes until the chicken is really tender.
- STEP 6
Put the green beans into the pan and simmer for 5 minutes, then add the cherry tomatoes for a final 5 minutes, until the beans are cooked.
- STEP 7
Stir through the lime juice and coriander, and serve with rice or roti. Make your own homemade roti to really impress your guests.
