Twice as Nice Curry

Ever thought curry is nicer the day after? I went into my laboratory and came up with this modification of a simple curry recipe that has the cooked-in qulaities of a day-after curry. The secret? Finish the cooking in the oven...

INGREDIENTS
feeds 4 greedy souls

• One Chicken (get the butcher to chop a whole chicken into about a dozen pieces for you)
• Large onion, chopped loosely
• 2 stock cubes
• 2 tablespoons of Patak's curry paste
• Water

Optional -- some of the following, not all, ok all if you insist

• Chopped chillies
• Chopped peppers
• Chooped nuts/sultanas
• Peas
• (you can also swap out the chicken for cubes of lamb or beef)

Heat some vegetable oil and brown the chicken on a medium heat. Chicken on the bone is much tastier and moister than chopped breast, so get that idea out of your head right now. Don't worry about cooking through as you are going to finish it in the oven. Remove the chicken to a plate and now cook the chopped onions until turning see-through/soft. Add chillies if wanted, peppers, nuts, sultanas etc (all optional). Make a space in the middle of the onions and now add 2 tablespoons of Patak's paste. Madras is nice, you could go for something milder though or something hotter like a vindaloo.

Make sure everything is covered in the paste and cook for a few minutes before adding the liquid. A couple of stock cubes and a couple of cups of water will do. You could use a tin of tomatoes instead if you like. The important thing is to have just enough liquid to cover the meat. Put the oven on to a medium/high heat 200c or gas mark 7 and when the curry is boiling, pour the lot into a casserole dish, put the lid on and slip in the oven for 40 minutes. Check every now and then to make sure it is not drying out. If it is, just add a bit more water.

The resulting curry will have a nicely cooked through flavour and, apart from waiting a bit longer and washing up a casserole dish, it is not much more effort. If you can't be bothered though, just leave it on the stove for 1/2 hour after adding the liquid and it will be fine too.