Lemon Coriander Chicken

This is genuinely one of the tastiest and most unusual dishes I have ever cooked. It's only a slight variation of (at least in my opinion) the best recipe in Madhur Jaffrey's fantastic Ultimate Curry Bible. The lemon juice and fresh coriander combine to make a beautifully sharp and tangy sauce, backed with just a little heat. Seriously, it has to be tried.

The only down side (and there had to be one) is that once you start cooking you're pretty much tied to the stove; there's a lot of stirring and checking and adding things and so on. Still, don't let it put you off, it's absolutely gorgeous.

• For the marinade
• 2" thumb of ginger
• 3 large cloves of garlic
• Juice of 1 lemon
• ¼ tsp salt
• For the main dish
• 2 skinless chicken breasts
• 80g fresh coriander
• 1 tomato
• 4 green birds eye chillis
• 2 tbsp water
• 1tbsp tomato puree
• 250ml natural yoghurt
• 2tbsp groundnut oil
• ½ tsp salt

First up, for the marinade, peel and grate the ginger and garlic. Combine them with the lemon juice and the salt and use the mixture to coat and cover the two chicken breasts in a non-metallic bowl. Cover, and leave for as long as you can, from 30 minutes to 8 hours.

When you're ready to start cooking roughly chop the coriander, the tomato and 2 of the chillis and put the lot along with the tomato puree, water and salt into a blender. Blend it into a smooth (very very green!) paste. Patience - this will take longer than you think.

Get the oil good and hot in a wide bottomed pan. Once hot, pour in the chicken breasts and all the marinade. It should spit spectacularly at this point! Fry the chicken (keep stirring) for 5 to 10 minutes, until it starts to take on a little colour and the marinade has reduced right down to almost a paste.

Next add the coriander paste from the blender and the remaining 2 chillis (whole). Cook for 5 minutes, stirring pretty regularly until the sauce loses some of its intense green colour and starts to darken a little.

Add the yoghurt and stir until it is fully combined. Finally, turn it down as low as it will go and simmer and reduce for 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally and checking it's not catching on the bottom of the pan. Cook until the sauce has thickened to the point of clinging to the meat and the chicken is cooked through.

It's probably wise to remove the whole chillis before serving.

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