Because the cousin's wife asked

This is a recipe that's purely ended up on here due to a family member asking how to cook Chicken and potato curry and I thought it may as well be drafted up and shared with you all ... So here's my recipe for chicken and potato curry 

To serve 3-5 people you will need :

1 kg chicken thigh cut in pieces or 1 whole chicken in pieces
3 medium onions
1 frozen cube ginger 2 frozen cubes garlic 1tsp salt 3 green chillies 2 tsp curry powder 1 bay leaf 1 tin tomato 2 tbsp fenugreek leaves (methi) 2 small tins of baby potatoes / 3 medium fresh potatoes cut into quarters chopped fresh coriander to garnish 2 tsp garam masala

• Start by chopping your onions and in a heavy based pan fry in a little oil on a medium heat till softened.Add the ginger garlic and salt. Cook the onions till they are golden brown in colour.
• Add the chillies and cook till the chillies soften and slightly darken in colour. Add the tinned tomatoes, curry powder and a splash of water. Stir through then with an electric blender or masher, blend the mixture so you get a smooth masala paste.
• Add in the chicken and the bay leaf and the cleaned fenugreek leaves. Cook the chicken till lightly browned, and juices run clear and there's minimal water, you'll know its ready when masala starts to stick to the chicken and the oil will separate• 
• Finally the tinned potatoes and stir through so the potatoes absorb the masala. Add water to the chicken .. just enough to cover the chicken and simmer on a medium heat for about 10 minutes (or until it's as thick as you prefer, sometimes i leave it quite dry so it ends up a quite spicy bhuna) till the water has reduced and add the coriander garam masala just before serving.

*if using fresh potato add at this point, you will need to stand close by and stir continuously till the potatoes cook through- add a little water at a time to stop the masala from catching

Deluxe chocolate orange brownies

I genuinely LOVE brownies .. Not just because they're a perfect combination of  having a crispy outside and and scrumptious chewy and gooey inside as well as tasting divine straight out the oven or actually even better the next day, but that the flavour combinations are pretty much endless. 

After experimenting around with a few flavours, so far this recipe is one of my favourites - made that little bit extra special with fresh orange zest and Terrys chocolate orange 

For 9 brownies you will need 

85g butter

140g caster sugar

100g soft brown sugar

125g orange chocolate*

2 eggs

zest of 1 whole orange

100g plain flour 

1/2 tsp baking powder 

2 tsp cocoa powder

6-8 Terrys Chocolate orange slices

icing sugar to dust (optional)

• Preheat your oven 180c/ 350f/ Gas mark 4, grease a 20cm / 8 inch square tin, and line the base with greaseproof paper.
• In a bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt together the sugars, chocolate and butter until smooth and completely combined. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool 
• In another bowl, whisk the eggs together with an electric whisk till light and fluffy and almost doubled in volume.
• Sieve the flour and baking powder into the whisked egg, add in the zest, pour in the cooled meted chocolate and fold in quickly but gently with a metal spoon** 
• Pour the mixture into the tin, place the slices of terrys chocolate orange over the top and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the top is crisp and the edges of the brownie shrink away from the tin. 
• Leave to cool slightly and finish off with a light dusting of icing sugar and serve 

*I used Terrys Chocolate orange, you can use whatever you personally prefer- for extra indulgence  I'd do a swap for Green and Blacks chocolate orange 

** Using a metal spoon helps fold in quicker than a wooden spoon would as well as keeping is as much air as possible to keep the fluffiness in your brownies

Amy's tabouleh

Amy's tabouleh .. I've named this recipe as such due to the fact that tabouleh is something that I'd always wanted to try but never actually had up until meeting with my friend Amy for a girly catch up and a cooking session of all sorts of little bits and bobs.  Not only do I absolutely love the flavour and textures in this dish, but I love how it consists of s little and there's no exact measurements of ingredients ; Simply toss it all together and tweak as you go along .

So for Amy's tabouleh you will need :

about 200g bulgar wheat*
a bunch of mint
a bunch of flat leaf parsley
a bunch of fresh coriander
1/2 tomatoes
pomegranate seeds
olive oil
lemon juice (optional)
salt and pepper to season

• Start by boiling the bulgar wheat in a pan until just tender, (just as you would with rice, it will also expand as rice does as it cooks away ) drain any remaining water, put into a bowl or dish you want to serve it in and leave to completely cool, then add a good splash of olive oil & a little lemon juice
• While the wheat cools, finely chop half the bunch of mint, coriander and parsley, add it into the wheat and stir through
• Roughly chop the tomato, add to the bowl along with the pomegranate seeds. Season with a little salt and pepper, check if your happy with the flavours and if you need to add more of whatever you feel it needs to. 
• Serve as you would a side salad with any main or simply eat on it's own as it is 

* if you're not keen on bulgar wheat you can swap it with cous cous. All you'd need to do is soak the cous cous with freshly boiled water. You need just enough water to cover the cous cous and cover it with cling film and leave for about 5-10 minutes to fluff up. You could even try bulgar whet with quinoa