Coriander chicken curry by Indian cook Mallika Basu

This light and fragrant chicken curry is steeped in fresh coriander leaves. A quick fix I reach out to often, it’s one of those recipes you can prep in the morning and cook in the evening if you prefer.

Importantly, this recipe doesn’t use onions, relying on the ginger, garlic and yoghurt to make the curry for the chicken. So it’s the perfect mid-week quick fix to impress guests.

Serve it with freshly steamed Basmati and some pickle or toasted ready naan.

• 500gm chicken thighs and drumsticks

• 1 tbsp minced garlic

• 1 tbsp ginger paste

• Half tsp chilli powder

• Half tsp turmeric powder

• 4 tbsp natural Greek-style yogurt

• One tsp coriander powder

• Half tsp cumin

• One handful fresh coriander

• 1 tbsp oil

• Salt to taste

Skin the chicken and marinate it in the yogurt, ginger, garlic, chilli and turmeric. If cooking later, pop covered in the fridge.

When you’re ready to cook, bring the chicken back to room temperature. Heat the oil to heat in a saucepan. When it’s sizzling, sauté the chicken with the coriander and cumin for 10 minutes until evenly brown all over. Add half a cup of hot water, lower the flame to a gentle boil, cover and cook for another 30 minutes until the chicken is well cooked. You’ll know it’s done because the meat will separate from the bone on the drumsticks.

To finish, chop up the coriander leaves and stir into the chicken along with salt. It should have a little light curry.

Mallika Basu is a London-based food writer, cookbook author and cookery personality; quickindiancooking.com. Follow her on Twitter @MallikaBasu_ and find more of her recipes for the Evening Standard here.