This coconut chicken curry is the one I make when there's no time to plan ahead. The chicken sits in a quick turmeric and lime marinade while you get the sauce going, and the whole thing is on the table in under 40 minutes. Creamed coconut block melts down into a thick, rich sauce and takes the edge off the spices, so there's no heat at all and the toddlers eat exactly what we do. The turmeric turns everything a properly golden yellow, which for some reason makes it go down even better.

Cooking Time

Prep: 10 mins (plus 30 mins marinating if you have it)
Cook: 25 mins

Equipment needed

1x deep frying pan or casserole dish
1x mixing bowl
1x measuring jug
1x saucepan for the rice

Ingredients (2 adults & 2 kids)

500g chicken breast cut into roughly 2cm chunks
2x tablespoons of olive oil (1 for the marinade, 1 for the sauce)
1x teaspoon of ground cumin
1x teaspoon of ground turmeric
Juice of 1 lime
1x teaspoon of cumin seeds
1x onion finely chopped
3x garlic cloves crushed
1x inch of fresh ginger grated
100g creamed coconut block, chopped or grated
300ml just-boiled water
150g basmati rice

Method

1. Put the chicken in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the ground cumin, turmeric and the lime juice. Mix it through with your hands so every piece is coated. Leave it for 30 minutes if you've got time, or crack on straight away if you haven't.
2. Put the chopped creamed coconut in a jug, pour over the just-boiled water and stir until it dissolves into a smooth cream. Set it aside — it'll thicken as it sits, which is fine.
3. Heat the remaining olive oil in the pan over a medium heat and add the cumin seeds. Give them about 30 seconds until they start to sizzle and smell toasty.
4. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until soft and translucent, then stir in the garlic and ginger for 1 more minute.
5. Turn the heat up and add the marinated chicken, scraping in every bit of the marinade. Cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring, until the outside has turned golden and there's no pink left on the surface.
6. Give the coconut mixture a quick stir and pour it in. Bring it to a gentle bubble, then turn the heat down and simmer uncovered for 12-15 minutes, stirring now and then. The sauce will thicken and darken to a deep yellow, and the chicken will be cooked all the way through.
7. While that's simmering, cook the basmati rice as per pack instructions. Spoon the curry over the rice to serve.
   

Our tips

Why the block and not a tin: creamed coconut block is usually one ingredient — coconut, pressed into a solid. Tinned coconut milk often isn't: turn a few tins round in the supermarket and you'll find emulsifiers and stabilisers like guar gum, polysorbate 60 or carboxymethylcellulose in there, which is squarely ultra-processed territory. There are clean tins out there, but the block takes the guesswork out of it and it's cheaper per portion too.

Keep the simmer gentle: creamed coconut is very high fat and will split into an oily layer if you boil it hard. A lazy bubble is all you want. If it does separate, take it off the heat and stir vigorously and it usually comes back together.

Want it hotter for the grown-ups: dish the toddler bowls up first, then stir a chopped green chilli or a pinch of chilli flakes through what's left in the pan.