17 April 2013

Good-for-you Creamy Curry

You know those gorgeous indian curries from up north - the ones you're not supposed to eat because they are full of all the bad stuff - cream, butter, ghee, ground nuts and coconut cream - dishes like Butter Chicken and that super creamy Korma. By God, they're good. But ohhh, so BAD!

This is a healthy take. It's still incredibly decadent, creamy and rich, but has a fraction of the naughtiness you'd expect. The secret is all in making a puree from vegetables that are naturally creamy, sweet and nutty in flavour.

Ingredients
  • 4 medium-sized chicken breasts (about 750g), each cut into about 6 pieces
  • 500g pumpkin, medium dice
  • 2 small onions, diced
  • 2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 10 curry leaves
  • 1 tsp brown mustard seeds
  • 1/4 tsp cumin seeds (bruised)
  • 1-2 tsp good curry powder (depending on strength)
  • 1/4 tsp tumeric
  • 1/2 tsp chilli powder (optional)
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 small tub low fat yoghurt (approx 170g)
  • olive oil
  • 1 cup frozen green peas (optional)
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 200ÂșC . Place the pumpkin in a roasting pan with a little olive oil and salt, and sprinkle with cumin seeds. Roast for about 20 minutes or until slightly browned and soft.
  2. While this is happening, add a little oil to a hot pan, then mustard seeds waiting for them to start to pop. Then add curry leaves, onion and garlic. Turn down the heat a little and brown onions, then add powdered spices. Finally stir in the cooked pumpkin and tomato paste.
  3. Place the onion/pumpkin mix with the stock cube and yoghurt into a blender and pulse until smooth. You may need to add a little water.
  4. Don't wash the pan - heat it up again, add a touch of oil if needed and brown off the chicken. Then add in the puree, turn down the heat and simmer slowly for a further 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. If adding peas, do so in the last five minutes.

Notes:

I've done a kilojoule count, and I believe this contains the following baddies:
170g low fat yoghurt - 410kj
500g pumpkin - 80kj (not really that bad...)

Comparing that to a gorgeous Chicken Korma recipe that I found on Fine Dining Lovers (tried and tested - it's the real deal), whose naughty ingredients include:
120g almonds - 800kj
75g full cream yoghurt - 380kj
150ml cream - 2150kj

The rest of the ingredients are fairly similar, and the taste is comparable (the roasted seeds and curry leaves help add a nutty character), and both serve 4. It's definitely worth a try, when you realise the kilojoule difference is probably around 2810 kilojoules, or about 670 calories. Holy cow!


4 comments:

  1. I love your pictures and recipes, they are mouth watering. Would love for you to share them with us at foodieportal.com. Over at foodieportal.com we are not photography expert snobs, we are just foodies.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What type of stock cube did you use?
    Thanks, I can't wait to try this

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maggi chicken stock cube. Thanks for pointing that out :)

      Delete
  3. Thanks SO MUCH! I'm currently reworking the blog, and so it might take me a while - I'll respond properly soon :)

    ReplyDelete

Think you have time for this one?

Please Stumble Me!