Easy Chinese Chicken Curry

A tasty Chinese chicken curry that’s perfect for an after-work supper for two and easy to pack with vegetables. The chicken katsu curry meets British chip shop sauce is delicious in this Chinese-style one pot dish. 

My Chinese Chicken Curry Fakeaway

I’m going to set out my stall right here and now – this is fusion food. My East Asian influenced chicken curry, can’t pretend to be authentic Chinese or Japanese food. Instead, it has its roots in my childhood experiences of takeaway food. 

See also

• Fresh, fragrant, herby flavours mix with some serious spice in a my Thai green chicken curry.
• Sweet and sour chicken is a Chinese takeaway classic; it’s easy to make at home and a delicious way to use up leftovers from the weekend roast.
• Here are all my favourite leftover roast chicken recipes for fuss-free, quick and easy delicious mid week meals and more.

Somewhere along the line, as the British enthusiasm for carry-out Indian curries and Chinese food grew, our indigenous fish and chip shops decided to jump on the band wagon. The chip shop curry sauce, sometimes called a Chinese curry sauce, was born. This spiced rich gravy is perfect for dipping proper chip shop chips. Not authentic, but delicious. 

Curry isn’t really a Chinese dish, of course. In fact, this East-Asian spiced sauce probably has more to do with Japanese cuisine – a sort of chicken katsu curry. Katsu is a shortened form of the Japanese word katsuretsu, meaning ‘cutlet’. In a chicken katsu curry, the sauce would be served on a crumbed cutlet, and this sauce would be delicious served that way. However, I love it in this easy one-pot supper dish.

Quick and easy to make, my Chinese chicken curry provides the spicy burst of flavours that you get in a good takeaway without the cost of paying someone else to make your supper. Making it at home also means you get it fresh from the pan, and nothing beats that!

This recipe is also adaptable and easy to pack with fresh vegetables, for that important extra veg! 

The secret to this dish is the use of cornflour (cornstarch), which gives that fantastic takeaway style gloopy texture with no no added nasties! The quantities given here are for two people, but you can easily scale it up or down. 

What Chicken? 

I always buy free range and preferably organic, chicken. The welfare is important to me and it tastes so much better. 

The cheapest way to buy chicken is to buy a whole one and joint it yourself. For two people I recommend buying a whole chicken, chopping off the thighs to use in a recipe like this, then roasting the rest. If buying chicken pieces for curries and casseroles, buy thighs. They are cheaper, juicer and have more flavour. You only need one thigh each.   

If you are very short of time, you can buy ready skinned and deboned chicken pieces. However, it is very easy to remove the skin and the bone, and it is more economical. Put the skin and bones in a bag in the freezer and add them to the pot the next time you make stock. Watch out for a post on making and using chicken stock, coming soon!  

Chicken pieces freeze well and you can defrost them in the fridge during the day for use that evening. Alternatively, you can cut your chicken into smallish chunks, freeze on a mat and pack into a tub. Then fry the ready cut pieces from frozen – this is safe, as long as the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

You can, of course, make your Chinese chicken curry from chicken left over from your Sunday roast.

Easy Chinese Chicken Curry Recipe

Step one – Measure out ingredients. This always saves me time and results in far fewer mistakes.

Step two – Mix the cornflour and spices in a bowl. Add the chopped chicken and stir well until the meat is coated evenly. You could leave this to marinade for a few hours in the fridge, if you like.

Step three – In a flat casserole dish or large frying pan, heat the oil over a medium heat and add the chicken. Cook for a few minutes, stirring well, until the chicken is starting to colour on all sides.

Step four – Add enough stock to cover the bottom of the pan. Stir well with a wooden spoon so that there are no lumps of the cornflour and spice mixture.

Add the rest of the stock, the soy & chilli sauce and the sliced red pepper, stirring all the time. Turn the heat down to low.  Cover and leave to cook.  

Step five – The sauce will thicken. After about 15 minutes, it will be thick enough for a wooden spoon to leave a trace when scraped across the bottom of the pan.

Step six – Add the miniature corn and mange tout. Stir in well and cook for about two minutes, covered if possible, until the corn and mange tout are just starting to lose crispness. Serve Chinese chicken curry immediately, with rice (or chips!).

Hint & Tips

• • Vary the vegetables in season – French beans and button mushrooms would work well. 
  • Season to your own taste with extra curry or chilli.
  • The Chinese Five Spice blend is what gives the sauce that authentic takeaway Chinese Curry Sauce note. It is subtle, but necessary.
  • It is really important to keep stirring and scraping the sides and bottom of the pan when making this, or you can end up with gelatinous lumps in your sauce. 
  • Soy sauce is generally NOT gluten free.  You need to use a certified gluten free brand or a tamari for a gluten free sauce.
  • Leftovers can be frozen. Just pour into a plastic pot, seal and freeze. Once defrosted, reheat in a pan or microwave.
  • This is delicious served with spicy rice, pressure cooker Chinese rice, salt and pepper chips, or easy pilau rice.

  

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