Lunch · Dinner · British Indian

Chicken dhansak

Name: Chicken dhansak
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: British Indian
Ingredients: 500g Chicken thigh fillets; 150g Red split lentils; 1 Brown onion; 3 cloves Garlic, crushed; 20g Fresh ginger, grated; 1 Red chilli; 1 tbsp Vegetable oil; 1 tbsp Medium curry powder; 1 tsp Ground cumin; ½ tsp Ground turmeric; 1 tsp Chilli flakes; 1 tsp Garam masala; 1 tin Chopped tomatoes; 1 tin Pineapple chunks, juice kept; 1 cube Chicken stock cube, made up to 600ml; 1 Lemon; 30g Fresh coriander; 300g Basmati rice, cook on the day

The curry house favourite: chicken and red lentils that are hot, sweet and sour all at once.

Start to finish: 1 hr 5 min
Hands-on: 30 min
In the fridge: 3 days
Freezes: Yes

Properly hotContains celery, mustard

Ingredients

4 portions

500gChicken thigh fillets
150gRed split lentils
1Brown onion
3 clovesGarlic, crushed
20gFresh ginger, grated
1Red chilli
1 tbspVegetable oil
1 tbspMedium curry powder
1 tspGround cumin
½ tspGround turmeric
1 tspChilli flakes
1 tspGaram masala
1 tinChopped tomatoes
1 tinPineapple chunks, juice kept
1 cubeChicken stock cube, made up to 600ml
1Lemon
30gFresh coriander
300gBasmati rice, cook on the day

Plus salt, pepper and water.

Method

1
Finely chop the onion, crush the garlic, grate the ginger and finely chop the chilli. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and rinse the lentils in a sieve.
2
Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion for 8 minutes, until golden. Stir in the garlic, ginger, chilli, curry powder, cumin, turmeric and chilli flakes for a minute.
3
Add the chicken and stir for 3 minutes to coat it in the spices.
4
Drain the pineapple, pouring the juice into the pan. Add the lentils, tomatoes and the stock cube crumbled into 600ml boiling water. Simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring now and then so the lentils do not catch, until they have collapsed into a thick sauce and the chicken is cooked through with no pink in the middle.
30 min, mostly hands-off
5
Stir in the pineapple chunks, garam masala and the juice of the lemon and simmer for 5 minutes more. Taste: it should be hot, sweet and sour at once, so add more salt or lemon until it is.
6
Serve, or leave to cool and portion into tubs.

On the day

Reheat until piping hot, adding a splash of water as the lentils thicken in the fridge. Cook the rice fresh on the night and scatter chopped coriander over the top.

Cook’s tip

Pineapple is the curry house trick for the sweet side of a dhansak. The juice cooks into the lentils, and the chunks go in at the end so they keep their shape.