Chicken and Mango Curry with Coconut Rice

Ingredients

• 300 g jasmine rice, rinsed
• 1 lemongrass stalk, bruised
• 200 ml coconut milk
• 300 ml water
• 700 g boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 4cm pieces
• 150 ml chicken stock
• 100 g baby spinach
• 1 large onion, finely sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 30 g fresh ginger, finely grated
• 2 tbsp mild curry powder
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 400 ml full-fat coconut milk
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 ripe mangoes, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
• 1 lime, juiced
• Fine salt and black pepper
• ½ cucumber, finely diced
• pinch of chilli flakes
• 150 g natural yoghurt
• small bunch of fresh mint leaves, roughly torn
• small bunch of fresh coriander, leaves picked
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Method

1. Put the rinsed rice, 200 ml coconut milk, water and bruised lemongrass into a saucepan. Bring to the boil, cover and cook over the lowest heat for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave it covered for 10 minutes; the trapped steam finishes the grains.
2. Heat the oil in a wide pan over a medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 6 to 7 minutes, until soft and golden at the edges. Add the garlic and ginger for 1 minute.
3. Stir in the curry powder and turmeric for 30 seconds, then add the chicken. Season and cook for 3 minutes, turning until the outside is no longer pink.
4. Pour in the 400 ml coconut milk and chicken stock. Simmer gently for 18 to 20 minutes, until the sauce is glossy and the chicken reaches 75°C for 30 seconds.
5. Stir in the spinach until wilted, then pull the pan off the heat and fold in the mango. Add the lime juice and taste; mangoes vary, so the curry may need another pinch of salt or a squeeze of lime rather than more sugar.
6. Stir the diced cucumber through the yoghurt and season it to make the raita. Discard the lemongrass and fluff the rice with a fork.
7. Spoon the curry over the coconut rice and serve with the raita, mint, coriander and lime wedges.