Shredded Chicken & Lemongrass Curry – Gousto

Over the last few weeks here in the North East of England, we have had the most amazing weather and I have enjoyed every second of it. We had constant sunshine which meant lots of BBQs, alfresco garden dining and cute picnic dates. I feel like we have been so lucky with the weather so far in lockdown, as for me, my mood definitely changes with the weather!

Unfortunately, we are back to the grey and rainy weather that the UK is known for. So, the BBQs and eating homemade tapas under the sunshine has been put on hold for now. But, that doesn’t mean that the amazing food in the Heads household had to come to an end! My family and I were fancying some warming and hearty food so, I decided to make this aromatic shredded chicken and lemongrass curry. This tasty recipe is from Gousto, I have never thought of joining Gousto before but, WOW I was so impressed!

This curry is a low – medium spice (depending on what curry powder you use!).

Serves 4

Prep & cooking time: 50 minutes

Recipe:

6 boneless chicken thighs

20g coriander

30g fresh root ginger

2 tsp nigella seeds

2 red bell peppers

2 red onions

2 chicken stock cubes

100g solid coconut cream

2 tbsp medium curry powder

1 lemongrass

4 cloves of garlic

260g basmati rice

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Method:

Preheat the oven to 240°C/220°C (fan) and deseed the bell peppers and chop them into thin long strips. Peel and finely slice the red onions into strips and boil the kettle.

Heat a large pan or wok with 2 tbsp of vegetable oil over high heat. Once the pan is hot and the oil is sizzling add the chicken thighs with a large pinch of salt. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until browned.

Once browned transfer to a tin foil-lined baking tray (save on the washing up!) and roast for 15 minutes or until cooked all the way through.

While the chicken is cooking in the oven, return to your pan/wok and set it to medium-high heat. Add the sliced pepper and onion with a generous pinch of both salt and sugar. Fry the vegetables for 5 minutes and then reduce the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes until soft and caramelised.

Meanwhile, place the sachet of solid coconut cream in a mug and cover with boiling water and leave this to soften in the sachet.

Remove the skin from the ginger and the garlic and grate or chop both. Cut the lemongrass down the middle lengthways and remove the tough outer layer (save this, don’t throw it away!) and finely chop the inner core.

Add the basmati rice to a pan of boiling water and add the outer lemongrass layers to the rice. Boil over medium-high heat for around 15 minutes. Once cooked drain the rice and remove the lemongrass – this is your lemongrass rice.

Add the ginger, garlic, lemongrass, curry powder and nigella seeds to the vegetable pan and cook for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, finely chop the coriander.

Add the cooked chicken thighs to the vegetable pan with 400ml of boiled water, the softened coconut cream and crumble in the chicken stock cubes. Mix well and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.

Once thickened, shred the chicken in the pan using 2 forks (this took me around 5-10 minutes) – this is your shredded chicken and lemongrass curry!

Stir half of the coriander into the curry, garnish with the remaining coriander and serve with the lemongrass rice.

My Tips

Chop and prepare ALL ingredients before you start cooking. This means everything is ready to go and all you have to worry about are the cooking times!

If you like a curry with a bit more heat, try adding a chopped fresh chilli or some chilli flakes! Do this when you add the curry powder and nigella seeds.

Give yourself plenty of time to shred the chicken – do not rush this step! Shredding the chicken in the sauce was harder than I first thought as you can’t really see what you are doing. Make sure to do it thoroughly and ensure it is fully shredded, you don’t want any huge chunks. However, make sure you don’t shred it too finely as you don’t want it to be sloppy, Also, be careful not to scratch the bottom of your pan!

Don’t worry if your sauce doesn’t thicken at first – once the chicken was shredded and I added the coriander mine thickened almost instantly and it was perfect!

Keep an eye on your rice – make sure to check and stir your rice regularly to ensure it doesn’t overcook and go sticky. Once cooked, drain your rice through a sift and pour over boiling water to remove the starch and this will leave you with fluffy rice.