Simple Chicken And Split Pea Curry

This is another one of those batch cooked recipes that is essentially a whole meal in a bowl. Rich, flavoursome, nicely spiced and filling, this is a fairly simple meal that'll keep you going without being too heavy and stodgy.

You will need:
1 tbsp vegetable oil (rapeseed oil)
2 medium onions, chopped *
4 large chicken legs, skin removed **
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
3 chillies, finely chopped
2 tbsp curry powder ***
500ml chicken stock
250g yellow split peas
1 pack sweet peppers, roughly chopped ****
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped *****
200g bag of fresh spinach

Method:
1. Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat in a large saucepan with a lid.
2. Add the onion and cook for 4-5 minutes, until they begin to soften.
3. Add the chicken and continue to cook for a further 10 minutes, until the chicken browns and the onions start to caramelise.
4. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
5. Stir in the curry powder and cook, stirring constantly to stop it catching, for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
6. Add the stock, split peas, peppers and sweet potato, stir to combine and cover with the lid. Turn the heat down to medium low and simmer for 60 minutes.
7. Remove the lid and simmer for a further 30 minutes, until the sauce darkens and thickens and the split peas are cooked.
8. Check the seasoning and add salt, if needed.
9. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the spinach then leave to stand, with the lid on, until the spinach wilts.

Notes:
* I say medium onions only because they’re what I have, 1 very large onion or 3 smaller ones would be fine as an alternative.
** I ended up using 8 chicken thighs because they're what I had in the fridge.
*** I actually used curry paste because I happened to have a small pot left over in the freezer.
**** Again this could be swapped out for 2 ordinary peppers, I just happen to have these to hand.
***** This could be left out completely if you're serving this over rice or, alternatively, could be swapped out for normal potatoes or even butternut squash.