A quick note...

Just wanted to qualify the fact that I have come up with the Syn values for each of the recipes myself and these have not been verified by Slimming World. They work for me but if anyone has any thoughts or different views on the recipes, please feel free to comment.

Very basic Chicken and Vegetable Curry

I used to think that curries were arduous, longwinded affairs that could only be cooked by people who had a lot of time on their hands and a plethora of exotic hard to find ingredients gracing the shelves of their cupboards. The truth is, some curries are that complicated and time consuming but others are so simple and quick to make that honestly, you’d have to come up with a different catalogue of excuses not to at least try.

I have been making curries from scratch for about a year now and this is one of the simplest and basic I have made and is very loosely based on a recipe I found in the Slimming World magazine not so long ago. It could arguably be considered as more of a lightly spiced stew than what I used to believe constituted a curry (a thick, creamy and highly fattening salt saturated sauce that came from a jar) but it does have curry powder in and so I’m sticking to my curry guns on this one.

I have tried to make the recipe and ingredients as simple as possible and if you can get this right after a couple of tries and feel like experimenting, I’ve added a couple of suggestions for simple variations at the end.

Ingredients:

• 4 medium sized potatoes (maris piper are good but honestly any will do), cut into cubes
• 2 onions, roughly diced
• 2 carrots, grated
• 1 garlic clove, crushed (optional)
• 1 inch piece of root ginger, peeled and finely chopped (optional)
• 2 tablespoons curry powder (mild, medium or hot – it’s up to you!)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 4 skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized cubes
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes

Serves 4 – 6 (My boyfriend and I eat this over two days but if you’re less greedy than us, you could get 6 servings out of it!)

Method:

1. Spray a pan with Fry Light. Peel your onion and roughly dice. Wash potatoes and cut into cubes (you can peel these if you like but I leave the skin on) and then peel and grate your carrots. Pile all that lovely veg into the pan.

                             Roughly dicing the onion                  

                             Cubed potatoes

2. Peel the garlic and ginger (if using) and chop the ginger before adding to the pan along with the crushed garlic. Chop the chicken into bite sized cubes and leave to one side.

                             Veg in pan ready to go                      

                             Chicken cubes ready for later

3. Turn on the heat under the pan to about medium. Cook the veg for about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring regularly to prevent any burning.

4. Sprinkle the curry powder over the veg in the pan and add the 2 tablespoons of water. Cook for a further minute or two, stirring until the veg is evenly coated with the curry powder.

5. Add the chicken cubes to the pan and increase the heat slightly. Cook for about 5 minutes stirring regularly to ensure all the chicken pieces get a chance to seal.

                             Chicken just added                           

                             Chicken sealed, move on

6. Add the 2 tins of tomatoes to the pan and stir to mix everything thoroughly. Turn the heat right down and place a lid on the pan. Leave to simmer gently for about 20 minutes. Tip: I move the pan to a smaller ring on the hob at this point as if the heat is too high, the curry can stick to the pan and taste very toasted at the end of cooking.

                                Tomatoes added to the mix                

                             Simmering away

7. At the end of the cooking time, lift the lid, give the curry a final stir and leave to rest for 2 minutes before serving with your choice of rice.

Served (my photography needs to be soooo much better!)

Variations:

• Try adding some green beans or sugar snap peas into the mix for a bit of crunch.

• For a slightly thicker sauce, leave out the potatoes and add two tins of plum tomatoes instead of the chopped tomatoes.

• Try experimenting with the spice combinations. Add some chilli powder for a bit of an extra kick or some cumin and ground coriander for a richer depth of flavour.

Welcome to my blog...

Thank you for clicking in to my kitchen!

Having started Slimming World in June of this year, I have been so excited about a diet that allows me to indulge my love of cooking and eating and have been inspired to create some simple recipes in the kitchen which shouldn’t cost too much in time, effort or Syns.

My excitement has continued to grow and so, 17lbs lighter, I felt it was time that I shared some of these recipes with other Slimming World members or anyone who wants to enjoy cooking and eating food that tastes good and happens to be good for your body, health and waistline (or the sight of any other lumps and bumps) at the same time.

If a recipe has Syns in it, I will include the Syn value at the beginning of the ingredient list. If no value is given, there are no Syns. I have tried to make the recipes simple and easy but if any seasoned cooks are reading, please forgive any overly detailed explanations and/or tips you don’t need and just skim over these.

I hope that this blog will grow into a useful resource full of ideas for anyone interested in cooking and staying slim at the same time. Please feel free to add any comments and/or suggestions on the recipes or anything else featured (constructive criticisms also welcome!).

Finally, being a lover of baking, I do reserve the right to add the occasional Synful cake/biscuit/baked goody recipe but I shall endeavour to include only Synful recipes I have eaten myself along with the results these cake fests produced that week at weigh-in!