Malay style chicken & peanut curry - silky, spicy and delicious

Well, this one worked out well!  

I think I shall call it a Malay style chicken & peanut curry as the basis of it was the recipe as below, but I halved the Thai curry paste and added the other half in Indian curry paste (a Korma paste) - so it wound up being a fusion of the two.  Knowing what a fusion of races now call Malaysia home, I think that represents Malaysia quite well.  

Original recipe : http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2838670/thai-pork-and-peanut-curry

I deviated from the original recipe in several different ways, the first being the addition of the Korma paste as I've already mentioned.  I added a red pepper, chopped into smallish dice, for colour and interest and a white sweet onion cut into eighths, the sweetness of which meant I could leave the soft brown sugar specified in the recipe, out.  I'm always keen, where I can, to reduce the amount of added sugar in dishes.  The sweet red pepper, the sweet onion, the baby sweetcorn, the coconut milk all have an inherent sweetness and I felt that the soft brown sugar would just take it too far.

It was mildly spiced so easy to pep up if you like it hotter and was jolly tasty.  Everyone said they'd be happy to have it again, only with rather less coriander, next time!  LOL  (I'm a bit heavy handed with the coriander, because I like it so much.  I forget that others aren't as keen!).

I've reproduced the recipe with my alterations below, but feel free to cook the original if you prefer the look of that!  I'm not precious about my recipes - they're there for you to use, change, adjust and develop as much or as little as you wish.

MALAY STYLE CHICKEN & PEANUT CURRY   (serves 3-4)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 skinless & boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks
ground black pepper 
1 sweet white onion, cut into eighths
bunch spring onions, sliced
small bunch coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves chopped
1 red pepper, cored and cut into dice
130g baby sweetcorn, halved lengthways
2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
2 tbsp Korma curry paste
2 tbsp peanut butter
400ml can coconut milk
1 tbsp soy sauce 
juice 1 lime.  

Method :

Heat the oil in a large and deep frying pan until very hot and carefully add the chicken chunks.  Fry them until lightly golden on at least two sides and season with black pepper.  Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the sweet onion, spring onions, coriander stalks, red pepper and baby sweetcorn to the pan and stir fry (adding a little more oil if necessary) until softened.

Return the chicken to the pan and reduce the heat slightly.

Add the Thai curry paste, the Korma curry paste and peanut butter and stir to combine.  Cook over a moderate heat for some 3 minutes or so, until well combined.

Add the coconut milk and soy sauce and stir gently.  Simmer for some 10 minutes or so until the sauce thickens to your preference.

Just prior to serving, add the lime juice (Half a lime at a time, then taste.  If necessary, add more) and stir in the chopped coriander leaves.

Serve with plain white rice, or jasmine rice.

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