This recipe comes from an Indian cookbook, Complete Indian Cooking, that my son brought home for me following his time in India. It’s mildly spicy and uses the popular Indian combination of chicken and spinach.

If you’re eliminating dairy from your diet, you could easily substitute coconut milk for the yogurt.

Ingredients:

8oz. fresh spinach, washed but not dried

1in. piece fresh ginger, grated

scant 1 cup water

1 jalapeño , roughly chopped

1Tbls. coconut oil

2 bay leaves

1/2tsp. black peppercorns

1 onion, finely chopped

14oz. can diced tomatoes

2tsp. curry powder

1tsp. salt

1tsp. chilli powder

3Tbls. full fat plain yogurt

8 chicken thighs, skinned

1. Cook the spinach leaves, without extra water, in a tightly covered pan for 5 minutes. Put the cooked spinach, ginger, garlic, and chill with 1/4 cup of the water into a food processor or blender and process to a thick puree. Set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a large heavy pan. Add the bay leaves and peppercorns. Fry for 2 minutes. Stir in the onion and fry for 6-8 minutes or until the onion has browned.

3. Add the tomatoes and simmer for about 5 minutes.

4. Stir in the curry powder, salt and chill powder. Cook for 2 minutes over medium heat, stirring once or twice.

5. Stir in the spinach puree and the remaining water. Simmer for 5 minutes.

6. Add the yogurt. Stir. Simmer for 5 minutes.

7 Add the chicken thighs and stir to coat them in the sauce. Cover and cook for about 39 minutes, until the chicken is tender.

Serves 4