Gosh I know a chicken and pineapple curry is probably about as Marmite as a recipe comes. But bear with me. I am, admittedly, a woman who orders pineapple on her pizza and chucks sultanas into any tagine, curry or stew I can explain them away in. I’m not a hugely cakey person; I choose to consume my fruity sugar in savoury form.
This curry was a happy accident. I had leftover roast chicken, I had all the ingredients for an almond rich curry sauce. And then I saw half a pineapple languishing in the fridge. The rest if history. So if pineapple offends you, please simply leave it out of this chicken and pineapple curry. Though you will have to rename it, obviously.
I served mine with a small side of steamed rice and a mountain of fresh coriander. It would be delicious with naan bread, roti or just a non traditional tortilla wrap, if that’s all you have in the house.
(PS. Dreadful photo again of the curry. Taken on my iPhone, but hey this was GOOD. I promise you that, despite the photo!)
This curry recipe is based on a fabulous recipe by Nigella which you can find here. There is also a Thai chicken and pineapple curry here if you like that kind of thing.
Lots of great recipes like this in my books, Recipes from a Normal Mum, (available on Amazon, at The Works, Waterstones, WHSmith, The Book Depository and many smaller outlets) and The Power of Frozen (available through Amazon).
This time last year: Microwave chocolate pudding, Gluten free chocolate coconut cake, Beetroot rolls, Chocolate heart cupcakes, Bramley apple and cinnamon crepe cake, Ikea style meatballs and pancakes.
Two years ago: Rye, spelt & poppy seed rolls, Never fail pancakes, Fluffy sweet potato pancakes, Mars Bar brownies and I wrote a letter to my 15 year old self with all the things I’d wish I’d known over 20 years ago.
Three years ago: Chocolate and banana flower shaped cupcakes, Subtle coconut rolls, Easy chocolate cupcakes and Chocolate orange tea buns and Almond and fig granola.
Four years ago: Love cupcakes and White chocolate, lemon and macadamia cake and Roasted celeriac, carrot and parsnip soup and My lightest Yorkshire puddings.
Five years ago: Bake me not chocolate cake and Jelly and ice-cream meringue roulade and Good flapjack and Banana, butterscotch and fig traybake.
Six years ago: Treasure hunt ice-cream and Rhubarb and ginger chutney and Carrot cake.
Yield: 4
- 3 tbsp groundnut/coconut oil (or other oil of your choice)
- 3 onions, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp crushed chilli seeds (or chilli powder if you don't have it)
- 60g ground almonds
- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- 4 cardamom pods, opened and crushed in a pestle and mortar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 cloves
- 300mls water
- Half a pineapple, cubed (or a tin, drained)
- 600g cooked roast chicken, sliced
- 3 tbsp Greek yoghurt
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the onions. Fry for 15 minutes on a low heat until soft and starting to brown. Add everything to the pan apart from the water, pineapple, chicken, yoghurt, salt and pepper. Fry for a further 5 minutes to release the flavour from the spices. Then add the water and leave to reduce for 15 minutes. 5 minutes before serving add the pineapple and cooked chicken. Just before serving remove from the heat, stir through the yoghurt and add the seasoning. Remember to warn everyone not to eat the cinnamon stick and cloves!
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Holly Bell 
When you say ground almonds, does that mean whole almonds that I put in a bag and crush up or do you mean really ground up almonds?
I didn’t really see in the recipe where I was to incorporate these ground almonds. Are the cardamom pods green or black ones? Thank you so much????
Ground almonds are the ones – you buy them ready ground. You add them where I say to add all the other ingredients. And cardamom – green ones are best!
Love this recipe! Hey, have you tried a spoon of coconut oil in your coffee? Its meant to make your brain work overtime because of the type of fats in it – (Google probably explains it better…)