Are you stuck in a rut with your family meals? Do you dread dinner when you have to come up with new ideas to feed the family? Help is at hand.

Jill and I have decided to run a monthly family dinner challenge. We both get 4 to 5 staple ingredients, things we all buy weekly, and the challenge is to turn them into a tasty family meal using store cupboard ingredients. For this month, I have made Michelle’s Tasty Homemade Chicken Curry, perfect for all the family, even if I do say so myself!

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Our challenge was to cook a family dinner with: chicken breasts, peppers, onions and rice. I immediately thought homemade chicken curry, full of spice and flavour and a big hit with my family.

The spice list looks long, but it does make all the difference and once you have them, they will last a few months at least.

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (you could also use thighs)
• 2 bell peppers (mine were red and yellow)
• 1 onion
• Rice for 4 people (I used basmati)
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon oil (I used vegetable)
• 1 teaspoon each of ground tumeric, coriander, cumin, garam masala, fenugreek, cardamom.
• 1 tablespoon curry spice blend (I used a madras blend)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• Pinch of black pepper
• 1 chicken stock cube
• Water

Method

1. Chop chicken into bite size pieces
2. Add oil to your wok or pan and fry off chicken
3. Dice onion and add to the chicken
4. Dice peppers and add once the onion has softened
5. Add all your spices and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, making sure they don’t burn
6. Add your tin of chopped tomatoes
7. Fill the tin with boiling water and add your stock cube
8. Add to the pan once the stock has dissolved
9. Bring to the boil then turn down to simmer and thicken. This allows the spices to cook out
10. Cook your rice according to the packet instructions. I always cook my rice in boiling, salted water. I add the water to about 2 inches above the rice and cook without a lid. Add more water if needed. Then once cooked, I drain in a colander and pour over boiling water to get rid of any lingering starch. It works every time!)
11. Once the rice is cooked add the soy sauce to your curry and serve

The Verdict

My husband and children love this recipe and there were clean plates all round.

Don’t worry if you can’t find all the spices, green cardamom powder is not always available, so use the seeds from the cardamon pods if you can’t get it.

I do use a curry spice blend (powder) but regular curry powder works well too. And if you want to add additional veggies, mushrooms, potatoes, courgettes, spinach and squash all work well.

You may also enjoy reading – 25 Super Scrummy Easy Chicken Dinner Recipes 

Over to you now. Have you tried my homemade chicken curry recipe? Please share your thoughts, additions or improvements with us in the comments box below.