So I was chatting to Auntie Rene on the phone the other night; we were talking about this blog and she started revealing some culinary secrets and more to the point, sharing some of her recipes! I have a few lined up, but started with this one given to Rene years ago by a friend of hers.

It sounded good from the off, it was easy to make and it tastes absolutely delicious. There is one diced apple in the recipe and it adds such a different dimension to the flavour. There is no apple taste per se, just a rounded layer of flavour. It’s genius. Ian said it reminded him of a kashmir curry and he’s right. He experimented with the leftovers by putting a very mean drizzle of double cream in and stirring that round – it changed the dish again. So bear that in mind as an option if you like creamy curries; that taster was a bit rich for me, so keep it mean.

Start by melting 1oz butter in a saucepan with a drizzle of oil.
Add 1 chopped onion and 1 clove of crushed garlic.

Saute until softened.

Spices are so attractive. If I am reincarnated as an inanimate object, I shall be a spice.

So add the 2-3 tsp medium curry powder (or hot, if you prefer), ½tsp ground ginger and ½tsp ground cinnamon. Fry these spices off for a good 5 mins, but keep the heat low and keep stirring.

Add ½tbsp flour and stir that in.

Things need to cool a bit, so add 300ml (½ pint) water and stir that in.

To that, add 1tsp instant stock powder, 2 tbsp mango chutney, 400g chopped tomatoes and a peeled, cored and diced apple. You can add 1 tbsp sultanas if you like; I only like them in cakes, personally.

Slap the lid on, keep the heat really low and simmer for about 45 mins. Keep checking and stirring it, because it does thicken up and will catch in the blink of an eye. Add more water if it’s getting too thick for your liking.
Check the seasoning – it was a bit bitter at first, but some salt sorted that out nicely.

Add some meat/seafood or veggies to it. Rene’s listed examples were chicken, pork or lamb. We went for chicken, but my Mum tasted the sauce and thought that prawns would go very nicely with it – will certainly do that next time.
Fry the chicken pieces off in a frying pan to colour them,

then add the pieces to the sauce

Simmer for about 15 -20mins (with the lid off ) or until the chicken is cooked through.

Stir through a little cream if you wish – but do taste it first. Man, it’s good.
Serve with rice.

Fruity Curry

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1oz butter
drizzle of oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp medium curry powder
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tbsp flour
1 tsp instant stock
2 tbsp mango chutney
400g chopped tomatoes
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
300ml water
2 chicken breasts, chunked (or pork, lamb, beef or prawns)
drizzle of cream to stir in at the end (optional)

Melt the butter and oil in a saucepan.
Add the onion and garlic and saute until softened.
Add the spices and saute them for 5 mins, being very careful not to let them catch.
Add the flour, stir that in, then add the water and stir well to combine.
Add the mango chutney, stock powder, tomatoes and apple.
Put the lid on the saucepan and simmer on a low heat for 45 mins, stirring very frequently to avoid scorching.

In a frying pan, fry off the pieces of chicken in a little oil to brown them.
Add the chicken to the curry sauce.
Simmer for 15-20 mins with the lid off to cook the chicken through and keep the sauce nice and thick.

Serve with rice and/or green veg.