Bank Holiday Monday Dinner

The man was working, so I said I'd cook and I really fancied Tandoori Chicken.

So I had a special Murgh Tandoori Mix that I'd bought at the Mahon Farmers Market from the Green Saffron Company and followed the directions and served it with veggie curry and brown basmati rice.

Need - Marinating time a couple of hours (although I think overnight is better, so it can really soak in through the meat)

So, in a bowl I put 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, 4 crushed garlic cloves, 60g grated fresh ginger with the skin on, 300 mls Plain Natural Yogurt, 4 tablespoons single cream, 3 tablespoons tomato puree, juice and zest of a lemon and the Murgh Tandoori Mix and mixed it up.  Then I dunked a whole chicken into the bowl and shoved the marinade into every crevice and under the skin on the breast and legs and into the cavity.

Once the chicken has had it's marinade time, pre-heat the oven to 200oc or Gas Mark 5 for an hour and a half for a 2kg bird (4 x15 mins plus half an hour cooking time)

Once cooked, leave to rest for 20 minutes, then serve

Because it's dry, I like a juicy veggie curry with it

Use whatever veg you have in the fridge.  I used:

1 small butternut squash
1 red onion
1 large courgette
1 large sweet red pepper
1 garlic Clove crushed
Half a packet of fresh Coriander, or the equivalent from a growing plant

Medium Curry Powder 3 tablespoons
Vegetable Oil
Knorr Vegetable Stock Pot or whatever vegetable stock you have
2 tins of tomatoes
1 tin of chickpeas

Then all I do is heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large saucepan
Add the curry powder to the hot oil to make a fragrant paste
Add the chopped veg and saute for 10 minutes
Add the stock, tomatoes and chickpeas

Leave to simmer on a low heat for 10 minutes, then turn off and leave until you're ready to reheat it later.

Just before you're ready to take the chicken out of the oven to rest, boil the kettle and make your basmati rice and put the Vegetable Curry on a low heat to finish cooking and to heat through.

All I know is, that when we had dinner that night, The Man was really impressed. He took my face in his hands and said that he could see how much time and effort I had put into the meal and how wonderful I was.

I smiled sweetly!

Hx