Chicken & Spinach Balti

Ever since my IBS diagnosis, I have really missed a good curry. It’s so hard to recreate a tasty curry without onion and garlic, however this recipe has satisfied my curry craving! Long gone are the days of ordering my staple tarkha dhaal, plain naan and mixed vegetable curry from my local Indian takeaway, so I’m on a mission to find delicious low fodmap, nut-free alternatives, that aren’t too difficult to make.

I spent some time going through a range of recipes to see how easy they would be to adapt (being mindful to avoid any recipes using curry powders) and came across a recipe on the BBC good food website, which I’ve adapted to suit the low fodmap diet…

Ingredients
For the marinade…
½ tsp chilli flakes
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp ground cumin
2½ cm finely chopped fresh ginger (peeled)
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp ground coriander
Chicken breast fillets (320g), cut into small pieces
75ml lactofree plain yoghurt

For the curry…
1 tbsp garlic infused oil
2 tomatoes finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato purée
splash water
75ml lactofree single cream
150g baby spinach leaves

To serve
Basmati rice (I use a 250g microwave pack from Sainsbury’s 55p for two of us)
Poppadoms  (gluten-free)

Method

First, prepare the marinade. Put ginger, salt, ground coriander, chilli flakes, turmeric and ground cumin into a bowl and mix well. Add the chicken pieces and the lactofree yoghurt and mix well. Leave this to marinate for around 15 minutes, or alternatively for longer the fridge covered in cling film.

To make the curry, hear the garlic oil in a saucepan over a low heat and add the tomatoes and tomato purée and fry for about a minute. Add the marinated chicken with the marinade and a splash of water. Pour in the lactofree cream and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked. Make sure that there is no pink when you cut open the chicken (take a test piece once you think it’s ready). If you’re unsure, cook for a little longer. Add the spinach, and stir until it starts to wilt.

Serve with basmati rice and poppadoms, and most importantly, enjoy a guilt-free tummy-friendly low fodmap curry.

Let me know if you give it a try in the comments below… My next challenge is to find a flavourful vegetarian alternative!

Alice x