THE RETURN OF THE (NO) BUTTER (NO) CHICKEN CURRY

Everyone loves curry night! Getting a takeaway on a Friday is the ultimate in lazy weekend treats. I love creamy curries and my absolute favorite is a scrummy butter chicken. Dipping your naan bread into that yummy sauce, it's naughty but oh so nice! Butter chicken is not the best thing to have really if your trying to shed a few pounds though so it was great when we created this low calorie version a few years ago as it meant I could enjoy this coconut milk based version without any of the guilt. Hurrah!

So you can see that I've used Quorn in this recipe, representing the "no chicken" aspect of this dish. I love Quorn and it's great to use as a low calorie alternative to chicken but if you want to use chunks of chicken in this recipe instead then feel free too. Later on in the recipe you will see I've used celery, carrots, cauliflower and green beans. This is just a combination of vegetables that I enjoy in this curry but you can use different vegetable instead if you wish. Keep the onions though as this acts as the base of your curry sauce.

The "no butter" part of the recipe is brought in by using a tin of coconut milk. If you don't like coconut milk then I suggest you check out my "classics revisited" version of this recipe which does use butter and double cream by clicking here. It's obviously not as good for you as this recipe but I'm not going to lie, it is delicious just in a more naughty kind of way!

Recipe below will make enough for 4 people when served with some rice and naan on the side. You can make this curry in a slow cooker if you want to leave it on during the day. All you need to do is transfer everything to the slow cooker once you've added in the coconut milk and leave it to simmer away for a few hours. You're then free to crack on with your day and come back in a few hours to a delicious, perfectly cooked veggie curry;

(No) Butter (No) Chicken Curry

1 Finely Chopped Onion
4 Grated Cloves Of Garlic

1 Tbsp Grated Ginger
300g Quorn Chicken Style Pieces
2 Tsp Chili Flakes
1 Tsp Turmeric Powder
1 Tsp Ground Cumin
1 Tsp Ground Coriander
1  Small Cinnamon Stick
1 400g Tin Chopped Tomatoes
2 Chopped Celery Stalks
2 Peeled and Chopped Carrots
1 Cauliflower Cut Into Medium Sized Florets
Handful Of Chopped Green Beans
1 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
1 400g Can Of Light Coconut Milk
Salt and Pepper To Season

1. Throw your onions into an oiled pan and fry away until the onions are nice and soft. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for around 1 minute. Chuck in the Quorn veggie pieces and fry for a further 5 minutes.
2. Next add the chili flakes, turmeric, cumin, coriander and the cinnamon stick and fry for around 5 minutes to release their fabulous aromas. Make sure you stir constantly so the spices do not stick to the pan.
3. Get your tin of tomatoes open and throw them into the pan. Give everything a good stir together and bring the mix to the boil before reducing the heat to a simmer for 20 minutes to allow all the spice flavors to infuse into the sauce.
4. Now add the celery, carrots, cauliflower and green beans to the pan along with the sugar and the coconut milk, season with salt and pepper and give everything a good mix together. Bring the pan back up to the boil and then reduce down to a simmer for around 30 minutes until the veg is cooked to your liking. 

Make sure you get your rice, naan and any other sides you're having ready for once the curry is ready to serve. Make sure that you remove that cinnamon stick so no one gets any surprises in their dinner and then dish up. The coconut milk used instead of the butter still gives this "no butter" curry that creaminess that you would expect from a traditional butter chicken curry and with all those tasty vegetables and juicy Quorn pieces you shouldn't even miss the lack of any chuck in there. It's the perfect way to treat yourself to a meat free curry feast. Now grab that naan bread and get stuck in!