Baked Indo-Chinese Chilli Chicken Curry

Serves	4 to 6
Prep time	24 hours, 20 minutes
Cook time	35 minutes
Total time	24 hours, 55 minutes
Allergy	Soy
Meal type	Lunch, Main Dish
Misc	Pre-preparable, Serve Hot
Occasion	Casual Party, Formal Party
Region	Chinese
By author	Karen S Burns-Booth

This delicious Indo-Chinese chilli chicken dish sits half way between a curry and a stir-fry, but it baked for a healthy alternative with no extra oil added. It tastes like an authentic Chinese chilli chicken or curry dish, that you might enjoy in a high-end Chinese restaurant, and it can be started the night before you want to serve it. Baking all of the ingredients together means that you only have one dish to wash up too, for the win!

Ingredients

500g skinless, boneless chicken thighs, diced (sometimes called chicken thigh fillets)
1 each red, green and yellow pepper, trimmed and roughly diced into chunky pieces (also known as bell peppers)
1 large red onion, peeled, and roughly diced into chunky pieces
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2.5cm fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced
1 hot green chilli, trimmed and finely sliced
1 tablespoon Madras curry paste (I used half a tub of Patak's Madras curry paste)
150ml water
4 tablespoons tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
spring onions, sliced (to serve)
fresh coriander leaves, chopped (to serve)

Marinade

2 tablespoons cornflour
1 tablespoon Madras curry paste (I used half a tub of Patak's Madras curry paste)
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons water

Note

Directions

Step 1	Place the diced chicken thigh meat into a bowl (or in the dish you intend to cook the recipe in) and add the marinade ingredients, mix thoroughly, cover and set aside in a cool place overnight, or for at least 3 to 4 hours until you want to cook the chicken.
Step 2	The next day, or when you intend to cook the dish, pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas mark 6 and place all of the ingredients, including the marinated chicken, into a large oven-proof dish, and mix together. (Not including the spring onion and coriander which are added just before you serve the recipe)
Step 3	Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the chicken is cooked, but the vegetables still retain a bite to them. Check halfway through baking to make sure that there is enough liquid in the dish, and if necessary, add some more water if it is too dry.
Step 4	Scatter the chopped spring onions and coriander leaves over the top and serve with egg fried rice or egg noodles with some extra soy sauce on the side.