Cheater Chicken Curry....and Ginger Cheesecake

My chicken curry turned out pretty well for the house concert. I admit there's nothing terribly authentic about it but just the same it's easy, you can make it ahead and it tastes damn good. My curried vegetables tasted nothing like the sample batch I made. Eh, you win some, you lose some.

Here's the original chicken curry recipe. I about tripled it and used the meat from a couple of whole roasted chickens rather than chicken pieces, as I think it's easier for parties to not have to deal with bones. I used fresh tomatoes rather than canned....other than that I pretty much stuck to the recipe. My beloved Penzey's sweet curry powder always makes a difference too. I got this version of the recipe, with American measurements, from The Wednesday Chef.

Nigel Slater's Chicken Curry
Serves 4

4 chicken pieces, breast halves or thighs
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons curry powder, from a recently opened jar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped (I used canned tomatoes, seeds and all)
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
Juice of 1/2 lemon

1. Rub salt and pepper into chicken. Heat butter and oil in ashallow pan, add the chicken and cook until the skin is golden. Turnand add the onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until soft,about 7 to 8 minutes. Stir every once in a while.

2. Stir in the curry powder and cinnamon. Cook for 4 minutes, untilthe spices are cooked. Add tomatoes and stock, then simmer until thechicken is tender and cooked right through, about 15 minutes.

3. Stir in the cream and taste the sauce, adjusting salt and pepper,if needed. Add the lemon juice. Simmer for 1 minute, then serve hotwith basmati rice.

I'm assuming Ernie did a fabulous job with the ginger cheesecake because it went pretty quickly and I've loved it everytime we've made it before. Very simple again, with no baking involved. I wrote about it a long time ago on this blog....way back in 2007, which seems like another life....you can find it here.