Chicken rogan josh - biryani style... ish

Today I fancied a mild rogan josh curry and I had chicken fillets to play with. As we recently had rice three times in one week, I decided to use root rice this time in order to be kind to my waistline. I got the recipe and all the ingredients out and started peeling the onion... only to realise that I had the wrong recipe out.

I was looking at a recipe for jollof rice, which is a dish in which the rice is cooking with the meat and sauce, similar to a biryani but with different flavours. Quickly I swapped to the correct recipe and stopped in my track when there was no rice in the rogan josh. How could I have remembered the recipe so wrong? The meat was to be cooked in a sauce and served with a side dish, such as rice, which is exactly what I didn't want. I find root rice as a side dish a little lacklustre. What was I to do?

How about adding the root rice anyway and combine the two recipes? Surely that would work. There was only one way to find out. Guess what. It worked! As I was experimenting in the kitchen I was thinking... I try, so you don't have to. Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing. If it works, I'll share the good news and if it doesn't, I'll pass on the warning.

Anyway, this worked and by adding the root rice to the sauce, I didn't run the risk of being tempted to cook proper rice to go with the leftovers the following day. Trickery rocks! This time I was tricking myself, but that counts as long as it works.

To make this mixed recipe meal, you need:

600 g chicken fillets

1/2 small swede, rice

3 medium parsnips, rice

1 pepper, chopped

2 courgette, chopped

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 inch ginger, finely chopped

1 tin chopped tomatoes

3-4 heaped spoons Greek yogurt

2 bay leaves

garam masala

chilli flakes

4 cloves

4 cardamon pods

salt & pepper

This is the basic recipe I use. If you compare it to my ingredients list above, you can see that I have swapped a few items. Feel free to use the original recipe, should you fancy it.

1. Get all ingredients out.

2. Chop the onion, garlic and ginger.

3. Soften the onion in a little oil.

4. Chop the courgette and pepper.

5. Add the courgette, pepper, garlic and ginger to the onion in the frying pan. Cook until half done.

6. Dice the chicken fillets.

7. Set the vegetables aside.

As you can see, there is plenty of bite left in both courgette and peppers. It will finish cooking later.

8. Dry fry garam masala, cloves and cardamon pods for a minute. 

Remember how many cloves and pods you put in.

Making a funny face with the curry powder is optional.

9. Add the chicken and shuffle to coat with the seasoning.

10. Brown the chicken. Add a drop of water if needed.

11. Add the vegetables back to the frying pan and mix.

12. Add the chopped tomatoes, chilli, salt and pepper. Mix well.

13. Crumble in the stock cube. You may need to add a cup of water.

Don't add too much, as most of it needs to cook away.

14. Add the bay leaves and leave to cook until the chicken and vegetables are done and
the sauce has reduced a lot. This is why you shouldn't add too much water.

15. Peel and chop the root vegetables. You can use whatever vegetables
you want for the rice, as long as they blitz well into 'rice grains'.

16. Pot the roots in a food processor and make rice magic.

17. Unless you want to bite into the chunky spices, pick them out. Biting into a
pod or clove can ruin your food experience, so really try to find them all.

18. Add the yogurt and mix well.

19. When you can do the 'fairly brief clear path test', but there
still is some sauce left, it is time to add the rice.

20. Chuck the root rice in.

21. Mix well and allow the rice to warm through.

22. Serve and devour.

I really enjoyed this and I felt so chuffed that it worked. We have had rogan josh several times before, with various kinds of meat and the cooking time varies depending on the choice of protein. I have always served with rice on the side. This was a healthier option and worth remembering.