Korma from scratch

I searched high and low for a good korma recipe as I never found anything in a packet or jar that wasn’t gloopy and too sweet. I’ve worked on this over time as a recipe so it works for me every time. Although I will admit from the start that it’s a bit of a pain in the bum unless you have a well-stocked spice rack and a block of creamed coconut (check the list below before you start!).

I’m using cooked leftover chicken for this but lamb and prawns (cooked) both work well too. If you want to use raw meat/prawns, cook them in a separate pan while the sauce is cooking.

First make the spice mix. Either use pre-ground or toast whole seeds and grind yourself. You need a good teaspoon of: cumin, coriander, black pepper, chilli flakes, garum masala, mustard seeds, turmeric and cardamom seeds (the black seeds, taken out of the green husk). Obviously, vary the heat by adding more/less of the chilli to suit you.

Creamed coconut needs to be reconstituted with boiling water. For this, though, use stock instead for better flavour. Make up a pint of stock and stir in chopped up creamed coconut until it’s thick and creamy. Add a squirt of tomato puree – the mix will go an alarming pink colour, but that’s normal.

In a wide frying pan, fry and onion until soft then add garlic and ginger (if you don’t have fresh, use some ground ginger in the spice mix) and fry for another minute or so. Now add the spice mix and give it another minute. Your whole house should now smell fantastic.

Pour in the coconut stock and give it a good stir to mix with the spices. The turmeric will bring the colour back to normal. Add the cooked meat and simmer for about 20 minutes to reduce and thicken.

Serve with basmati rice and a few home-cooked poppadoms.