Chicken and Chickpea Curry

Enjoy a delicious homemade curry for dinner tonight with this simple and quick recipe. 

I love making up quick and easy curries for dinner. I am also a big fan of including chickpeas in curries and this recipe can easily be turned into a vegetarian dinner by omitting the chicken and doubling the amount of chickpeas. I serve this recipe with couscous, but it also works with pitta bread or rice instead. Read how to cook couscous here.

Serves 2

Half tsp ground cumin
Half tsp ground coriander
Half tsp garam masala
Half tsp curry powder
Quarter tsp chili powder

1 chicken fillet, chopped into pieces
Half tin chickpeas
Half tin tomatoes
50ml chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
Half tsp chopped ginger

Heat some olive oil in a pot over a low to medium heat.

Sauté the onion, garlic, and ginger in olive oil until the onion begins to turn golden brown.

Add the spices and sauté for a further minute.

Add the chicken and cook for two minutes or until the chicken has almost turned white.

Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, and stock, and stir well. Reduce to a simmer and leave for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Sprinkle chopped coriander over the curry to serve.

Mediterranean Roast Vegetable Couscous

This is a simple and delicious recipe that will help you get to your 5-a-day vegetable intake. This can be eaten straightaway, or cool in the fridge and have for your lunch the next day. Either way, it tastes great! You can also choose to amend the selection of vegetables in this dish - aubergine would also work great in this recipe.

Serves 2

1 courgette, cut into 1cm discs
1 large red onion, cut into large chunks
1 red pepper, sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
Half tsp chopped basil
Half tsp chopped rosemary
Half tsp chopped thyme
Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper

120g dry couscous
100ml vegetable stock

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Put the vegetables into a roasting dish. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and herbs. Season and stir well. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes.

To make the couscous, put the dry couscous in a bowl, add the stock (at near boiling temperature), and cover. Leave for 5 minutes. Then fluff up the couscous with a fork.

Remove the roast vegetables from the oven. Tip the couscous into the roasting dish and mix with the vegetables to get all the flavours from the roasting dish.

Serve with a roast chicken or salmon fillet and this also tastes great with a dollop of hummus :-)

How To Cook Cous Cous

When cous cous goes wrong it can be unpleasant - too little water and time, and it is hard, too much water and you end up with a soggy meal.

The rule of thumb for cous cous is equal amounts of cous cous and liquid. So if you cook one cup of cous cous, you need one cup of boiling liquid.

The best way to measure accurately is to use a measuring jug. Weigh the amount of cous cous you want to cook, this is around 50-60g per person. Next, put that in a measuring jug and record the amount in millimeters. Put the cous cous in a bowl and pour boiling liquid into the jug up to the same level of millimeters as the cous cous had been. This guarantees and equal amount of cous cous and liquid and avoids a soggy mess...