Simple Mexican Inspired Curry

Mexican food is great and curries are also great of all types from all sorts of places. Fajitas are also delicious, this recipe is a modification of a a fajita recipe with the secret ingredient of creme fraiche to make a cool but spicy and smooth curry. The curry is so fast to make and will satisfy you, your friends and family. There are very few ingredient and don't be put off by the spices, most people can probably find these in the back of a cupboard that they forgot about. if you like it extra spicy feel free to throw in a fresh chilli or too. if it is too spicy then add a little more creme fraiche.

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You will need:

• 500g chicken breast or leg (boneless) sliced
• 1 red onion sliced
• 1 red pepper deseeded and sliced
• 200ml creme fraiche
• 1 Tbsp cornflour
• 1 Tbsp chilli flakes
• 1 tsp salt 1 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin (ground)
• 1 handful of fresh coriander (you could use dried but fresh really is much better - try growing your own)

Couscous, cheddar cheese, guacamole, sour creme and flat breads to serve - you can mix this up however you like :)

Start off by seeling the chicken, you can use breast or thigh for this this, if you dont want to use chicken then it will also work with beef, pork or even seafood. you could even make this vegetarian by swapping out the meat for pulses and more vegetables. Equally delicious.

Fry the meat on a medium heat for 5 - 10 minutes.

So as not to overcrowd the pan and not to over cook the meat, remove the chicken from the pan and set to one side, we will add this back later.

Done be tempted to clean the pan, leave all the little bits of meat in the bottom of the pan along with the remaining oil; this will flavour the rest of the cooking.

If you need to, add a little more oil to the pan, and throw in the onion and the pepper at the same time. You don't have to use red pepper, it just gives a nice colour and they tend to be nice and sweet.

Fry the veg in the pan on a medium heat still, they wont take very long (3 - 5 minutes) until they are soft and the onions have started going a little translucent.

Now it is time to add the spices and the thickening (cornflour).

Add all the dry ingredients to the vegetables, cook these off in the oil a little to mellow the spices and also cook the cornflour out which should prevent any lumps - lumps don't tend to be so much of a problem with cornflour but always worth cooking out regardless. Cook these ingredients out for a few minutes. At this point if you are brave or just like your curries a little more spicy then add some chopped chills and soften with the spices.

Add a just boiled water from the kettle to just cover the vegetables and stir to combine all the spices and cornflour.

Add the chicken back to the pan, this is where the curry starts to come together. Stir a little to incorporate it all together.

Now to make the curry look like a curry add the creme fraiche and stir in.

The creme fraiche will cool the curry down and give a lovely silky finish to the dish, let this simmer on a low to medium heat for 5 - 10 minutes unto the chicken is cooked.

At this point (when the chicken is cooked!) taste your curry, if it is too spicy for your liking then you can add a little more creme fresh, if it is too thick add a little more water.

Take a handful of coriander and finely chop it up, you could use dried if you don't have fresh to hand but it really is so much better to use fresh. Some people don't like coriander so you could leave it out or use chives instead.

Stir the chopped herbs into the curry at the very last moment and remove from the heat to keep all the beautiful fragrance of the herbs in the dish.

Spoon into a large serving bowl and garnish with a little more coriander or your chosen herb and enjoy with what ever you like, why not try:

Couscous, cheddar cheese, guacamole, sour creme and flat breads - or anything that takes your fancy.

Enjoy :)