This slight adaptation of Jamie Oliver's favourite chicken curry is an easy homemade curry that the whole family will love. Fresh tasting and not too spicy, it's a perfect midweek meal!
Last week I was flicking through Jamie Oliver's Happy Days with the Naked Chef when I realised I had never made this curry recipe. Now, being a big curry lover, I normally avoid curry recipes with this type of title, by that I mean just curry, rather than a type of curry. This is probably why I hadn't made it until now.
Jamie Oliver's Favourite Chicken Curry?
I suppose it was the shameless use of the word favourite that did it. If this really is Jamie's favourite curry recipe (which I doubt, it is) I assumed it would be pretty good.
And was it? Well yes, as you would expect, it was a good curry, I enjoyed it. I liked the coconuty tomato sauce and would happily eat it again, but like the rather generic title, it was a rather generic curry. None of the flavours were quite strong enough to wow me. It needed just a bit more spice or a bit of zing.
A beginner's homemade chicken curry
I would say that if you don't often make curries, this is a perfect one to start with as it's fairly quick and easy without too many ingredients, and despite what I said, it does taste good. But if you make a lot of curries, you might prefer to be a bit more adventurous. Sorry Jamie.
Remaking Jamie Oliver's favourite chicken curry
Well, it's 8 years since I first made this curry and I've remade it a few times. These days I don't eat as much hot and spicy food as most of my meals are very kid-friendly for Miss and Master Spice aged 7 and 5. I think I probably appreciate more subtle flavours.
A great curry for children!
Well, Master Spice certainly appreciated this curry. He loved it and even asked for seconds. I'm always delighted when I discover a recipe that one of my kids loves and at the moment this is certainly his favourite curry, along with my chicken tikka masala recipe!
I have to say I omitted the fresh chilli peppers but of course you can add as many as you want depending on your preferred heat level. I also added some spinach. After all, spinach goes really well in a curry and it's a great way to adding extra vegetables to a meal.
So will I wait a few more years before I make it again? Probably not!
Side dishes for a chicken curry
I love to serve curries with plain and simple basmati rice and naan bread. However, if you want to add a couple of side dishes then why not make this tomato and cucumber raita or some onion bhajis?
Sometimes I also make a vegetarian curry so there's some variety on the table. This curried okra is a great way of adding some extra vegetables to the meal as well.
And right now, my kids absolutely love these Bombay potatoes with any curry I make!
Are the ingredients easy to find?
Most of the ingredients can easily be picked up in the supermarket. The only one that might be difficult to get hold of is the curry leaves, although you can often find dried ones in the herbs and spices section of most supermarkets.
Don't worry if you can't find them though. Just miss them out. It'll still be a very tasty curry recipe.
Ways to adapt Jamie Oliver's favourite chicken curry
I do believe that recipes are there as a guide and you shouldn't worry about sticking rigidly to them. If you don't have one particular spice then you can miss it out. Just make sure you taste the curry and add a little extra of something else if you think it needs it.
For this recipe you could even miss out the chicken and make it vegetarian. Just replace the chicken with a plant-based protein such as chickpeas or paneer.
You can also change the vegetables. Almost all vegetables are great in curries. Why not try cauliflower, green beans, kale or peppers.
I often just look in the vegetable drawer in the fridge and see which vegetables need to be used up before they go too bendy!
What can you do with the leftovers?
This chicken curry is great for batch cooking. You can store the leftovers in the fridge for up to three days. Leftover curry is delicious and the flavours are often even better the next day. You can reheat the curry in a saucepan but may need to add a splash of water. I usually reheat it in the microwave though. Check that it's piping hot before serving.
You can also freeze the leftovers for up to three months. Ideally defrost in the fridge overnight before reheating throroughly.
Are you looking for more curry recipes?
Do check out my recipe collection for easy homemade curries from scratch! And why not try one of these?
There are lots more great recipe in my cook once eat twice recipe collection. And in my easy spicy midweek meals recipe collection. Do take a look!
Recipe
Jamie Oliver’s Favourite Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoon lazy ginger or a small knob of fresh ginger
- 3 onions peeled and chopped into large chunks
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon fenugreek
- 3 chillies sliced (optional - I left these out for the children)
- Handful curry leaves
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 6 tomatoes or a 400g tin of tomatoes
- 400 ml tin coconut milk
- 4 chicken breasts sliced into strips
- Pinch of salt optional
- 100 g spinach approximately
Instructions
- Put the onion and ginger into a food processor and blend till finely diced.
- Heat a little oil in a pan. Add the mustard and fenugreek seeds, chillies and curry leaves.
- As the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the onion mixture. Cook for about 5 minutes until they have softened.
- After adding the onion to the pan, put the tomatoes in the food processor and blend too.
- Add the chilli powder, turmeric and coriander to the pan, followed by the tomatoes and coconut milk. Add a little water too. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken and continue to simmer for about 10 minutes. Season with a little salt to tastes if necessary. Then add the spinach and stir in until wilted. Serve with rice or naan.
Sally Humeniuk
I love how easy this chicken curry recipe looks. And I love Jamie Oliver! Going back to revisit recipes is something I do often as well. Finding curry leaves in my area is not easy but I would search them out for this because I love chicken curry. Good post!
Corina Blum
I hope you find some! I do love Jamie Oliver recipes as they are easy and almost always work really well.
Piet
No Garlic, No Cumin, No Cardomom, what in a disaster is this!
Corina Blum
I wouldn't say it's a disaster! It's a tasty meal but I'm pretty certain it's not really Jamie Oliver's favourite chicken curry! It is still a lovely family friendly recipe.
Caroline
I love going back and revisiting old recipes, it's funny how sometimes you find new favorites as a result. I'm with you I don't generally go for a generic curry, but I still make some as they are perfect for the kids (and we still happily eat) and this looks like one to add to the list.
Corina Blum
I think I'm the same. I have changed a lot since I first made this curry! I first wrote this post before I had children and we used to eat much hotter spicier food then. Now I'm trying to make meals the kids will eat too so most of my recipes have become milder but we add extra fresh chillies on the side so we can spice up our own plates.
ali randall
My neighbors are from Bangladesh and they make the best chicken curry. I would be so hesitant to try to replicate it but your recipe looks like something I can manage. We love the flavor of curry and this dish sounds wonderful.
Corina Blum
They must make amazing curries! Some curries do have lots of different ingredients and take a long time to prepare but luckily this is a nice easy one -perfect if you haven't made many curries before.
Cliona Keane
Jamie certainly has good taste! This looks and sounds delicious...I can't wait to try it!
Corina Blum
He does have good taste! I'm a little critical of him in this post but I do love his food.
Eden | Sweet Tea and Thyme
Reminds me of my best friend's aunt's curry recipe, they're West Indian and Indian so they know their curry! Looks delicious and can't wait to try it!
Corina Blum
I bet they make some great curries! I love trying different ones and experimenting with the flavours too.
Agness of Run Agness Run
This is probably the best curry recipe I have tasted! I am very grateful for the recipe, Corina!
Corina
Aww that's so lovely to hear. Thank you so much for letting me know you enjoyed it!
Heather @girlichef
I've actually noticed the same thing with a Jamie curry (different one, though) before. That said, it looks mouthwatering!
Joanne
Mmm I love finding new curry recipes to try! This sounds great!
Juliana
Your curry chicken looks delicious, I like the idea of adding spinach...I must try it next time I make curry dish.
Hope you are having a great week and thanks for this nice recipe Corina 🙂
Janice
I made that curry a lot when I first got the book and I really like it. It's easy to make and although not very spicy it is nice and fresh and once you make the sauce you can add whatever you like to it. Will have to revisit!
At Anna's Kitchen Table
We all love curries!
Though I think Jamie can be a bit long-winded in both method and ingredients.
it looks good!
Christy
Curries have always been a festive food for us when my grandma was alive; she used to make curry prawns and chicken during Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year. She has this traditional recipe which she passed to her daughters-in-law. I am not really good with spicy food or curries, but I have to say my grandma makes one of the best curries 🙂
Welcome to the curry world...hehehe 😀
Jay
Hy Corina,
chanced upon your space while blog hopping..glad I stopped by..!
awesome space you have with interesting posts..
love your presentation..
Chicken curry sounds scrumptiously tasty with great cliks..
Am your happy follower now..:)
do stop by mine sometime.
Ruth
I've noticed Jamie does that a lot.. Just tonight on Jamie's Britain, I heard him say that his trout pate was 'the best mouthful of food he has ever tasted'.. Hmm, I'm sure you said that last week Jamie, about an entirely different recipe! I've never tried a recipe of his that I didn't like though, and I love his TV shows, so I'll let him off!
The curry looks fairly quick and easy, think I'd be tempted to throw a few fresh chillis in though!