Chicken & Sweet Potato Curry Bowl

Ingredients

• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 thumb-sized piece ginger, grated
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp tikka masala or medium curry paste
• 600 g chicken thigh fillets, cut into large chunks
• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3cm chunks
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• salt and black pepper
• 1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
• 1 lime, juiced
• steamed rice, coriander, and mango chutney, to serve

Method

1. Pat the chicken dry and season generously with salt and pepper — water on the surface means steam, and steam means no browning.
2. Heat the oil in a wide, lidded heavy pan over a high heat until it shimmers. Brown the chicken in two batches, 4–5 minutes a batch, until the edges catch deep gold. Crowd the pan and the meat boils in its own juices instead of building colour. Lift out and set aside.
3. Drop the heat to medium. Add the onion and cook for 6–8 minutes until soft, translucent and just starting to catch at the edges — those sticky bits on the base are flavour, leave them be.
4. Stir in the garlic, ginger and curry paste. Cook for 60–90 seconds, just until fragrant and the paste darkens a shade — don't let the garlic go past pale gold or it turns the whole curry bitter. This is also the moment the spices in the paste bloom in the hot oil; raw paste tastes dusty, bloomed paste tastes of itself.
5. Tip in the sweet potato and rinsed lentils, stirring to coat every chunk in the rust-coloured paste. Cook for 2–3 minutes so the spice clings.
6. Pour in the coconut milk, chopped tomatoes and 200 ml water, scraping up the stuck bits from the base — the coconut and water break the tomatoes down so they taste of summer fruit, not heated tin. Bring to a gentle simmer.
7. Return the chicken with any resting juices. Cover and cook over a medium-low heat for 20–25 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the sweet potato yields to the tip of a knife and the sauce has thickened to a glossy coat that clings to the back of a spoon.
8. Off the heat, stir in the lime juice — the acid lifts the coconut richness and pulls the spices forward. Taste, season, taste again. Adjust the salt now, not at the table.
9. Spoon the curry over steamed rice in warm bowls, scatter the fresh coriander generously over the top, and add a glossy spoonful of mango chutney alongside.