Quick Chicken Korma/Meringues

After a busy day in the kitchen yesterday and the day before, it's time for a quick meal tonight so that I have time to catch up with other work too!

A quick chicken korma with plain basmati white rice, fried sliced mushrooms, shop-bought onion bhajis (we ran out last time - need to make more for the freezer!) and keema naan. This is the recipe I used in January:

Thursday 24^th January 2013

A quick chicken korma tonight.

Dice one chicken breast per person.

Slice 1 onion and fry in 1tbsp oil, lowering the heat to a simmer to allow the onions to reach a point where they will ‘melt’ into the sauce. It will take about 7 mins.

Add ¾ jar curry paste (Korma tonight) and fry with the onions for 2 mins. Add the diced chicken, a grate of fresh ginger (I keep mine in the freezer and grate from there) and a crushed garlic clove.

I added a few stray button mushrooms halved from my fridge drawer.

After 5 mins of stirring to mix the flavours and juices, add 20ml water.

Bring to the boil, lower heat to a simmer and leave to cook for 10-12 mins, or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Add cream or crème fraiche (100ml) to the curry, with a tsp sugar.

Stir again and leave to cook for a further few mins.

Enjoy with fluffy white basmati rice and onion bhajis, not forgetting the mango chutney and poppadums if you have them!

Tonight I used a 400ml can of coconut milk instead of water, cream and sugar. A few leftover king prawns made their way into the bubbling sauce too. I cooked the mushrooms separately so that they could be served to those who wanted them. There is plenty of sauce, so make sure you have accompaniments to mop up with, or even have a little extra sauce to mop up! Sprinkle with chopped fresh coriander...

I almost forgot the egg whites left from the yolks I used for the mousse! Time to make some meringues as I am away tomorrow and they won't keep forever...

2 egg whites

4 oz caster sugar

Whisk up the egg whites until they are very stiff. Add the sugar gradually. Now I use golden caster sugar which I find can be a bit grainier than white, so I whisk to incorporate the sugar thoroughly, but you can whisk in half the sugar, and then fold in the rest. This is the way to do it properly for a 'meringue suisse'.

Cover the baking sheet with baking paper, and spoon little heaps of mixture onto the paper. Use the back of the spoon to swirl it into shape and leave a characteristic peak. The meringues can be as big as you like. I made little ones tonight, just right for a desert snack.

As I write, they are drying out in a 100 C heat in the oven for about 2 hours. I have been known to turn off the oven and leave them there overnight, but tonight I will need to cool and store them - early start in the morning!