Light Chicken Jalfrezi

Jalfrezi is one of the most popular Indian curries in the UK. It includes a mixture of stir-fry vegetables, typically peppers, tomatoes and onions. Unlike many curries, vegetables are not cooked into a pulp, but left intact, making this curry a beautiful mixture of colours. I wanted my jalfrezi to be a bit lighter, so the sauce I prepared to go with it is not as thick as in most curries, but it has just as much flavour.

You'll need:

one double chicken breast 

3 tomatoes

1 green pepper

1 yellow pepper

2 onions

3-4 green chillis

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

4 table spoons of natural yoghurt

1/2 glass of water

turmeric

cumin

garam masala

salt and pepper

a pinch of sugar

sunflower oil

1. Chop 2 green chillis (remove the seeds if you don't want your Jalfrezi to be too spicy). I used two because in Italy green chillis are hardly ever very spicy, but if you find a spicy variety, one might be sufficient.

2. Chop 2 tomatoes. Cut the chicken breast into small cubes of around 3cm.

3. Heat up a deep pan and put some oil on it. Add chopped chillis and garlic.Allow them to fry for around 30 seconds and then add chopped tomatoes, tumeric, cumin, garam masala and a pinch of salt and sugar. Fry for another 3 minutes or so until the tomatoes get soft.

4. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add to the pan. Fry for 3-4 minutes and then add water and yoghurt.Cut the remaining chillis alongside, without cutting them into half and add to the pan. Allow the mixture to simmer gently for around 10 minutes or until the sauce reduces. The yoghurt might separate at first, but it should be fine after a while.

5. Cut the peppers into 4cm slices and cut the onions into wedges. Stir-fry them together on another pan, adding some salt and garam masala. 

6. Cut the remaining tomato into wedges and add to the pan with the peppers and onions towards the end of stir-frying them.

7. Add the vegetables to the chicken with the sauce and serve with rice or naans.

Bon appétit!