Spicy Tomato Prawn Spaghetti - serves 4

I've been making variations of this pasta for a pretty long time now, and its always enjoyed but I've been thinking there are some ways I can make it better. One of these is the tenderness of the prawns, cooking them in the sauce for the whole time makes them tough and they lose nice juicy flavour that prawns usually have, this way of doing it gives the meal that little je ne sais quoi! The sauce for this pasta can be made in advance and kept in the fridge or freezer for anytime you need a quick fix plate of pasta!

Ingredients:

500g linguini or spaghetti 
300g fresh prawns (shelled) 
1 red onion 
2 cloves garlic
1 red chilli (with the seeds!)
handful of mushrooms 
half a red pepper 
200g tinned tomatoes
4 tbsp greek yogurt 
50g grated cheddar cheese 
1 lemon
1 courgette 
chorizo (amount is up to you)

Method:

The sauce for the pasta can be made in advance, but if you're not making this in advance, get the water ready t boil now. Roughly chop the red onion, garlic, chilli, mushrooms, and pepper. Fry the onion, chilli and garlic for around 5 minutes until it begins to go soft then add the vegetables. Once these are all soft add the tomatoes to the sauce and boil, (tomatoes are very acidic so for each 400g add a teaspoon of sugar - for this 200g only 1/2 tsp) then add the yogurt and cheese and stir well. This can either be boiled for sometime or immediately blended and set aside. Taste the sauce once it is blended, it may need more salt or pepper, or even a squeeze of lemon juice. 
  Dice the courgettes, (if you're in a hurry they're also nice grated) and chop the chorizo and fry both of these until the courgettes are cooked and the chorizo is crispy, put these in a bowl ready to add the pasta once its cooked. Again, if this is being in advance these vegetables can sit next to the sauce ready to be added and warmed through. Put the pasta in the pan with plenty of salt and simmer for the given time. While the pasta is cooking butterfly the prawns. It makes them open really nicely and curl around making them seem bigger and the dish look a little more professional. To do this have the back of the curve of the prawn facing you and carefully cut down to the vein opening them up but not halving them. (they can be butterflied with the belly facing up, but I like the curliness this adds)
  Once the pasta is cooked and drained add your desired amount of sauce, plus the courgettes and chorizo and heat it all through gently while you fry the prawns. 
Heat a frying pan over a high heat and add a dash of olive oil, then add the prawns and quickly squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, toss these about until they're cooked. Serve the spaghetti and top with some lemony butterflied prawns.

IN SEASON- Wild Garlic Risotto. Serves 2

Wild garlic is everywhere at the moment, you'll be able to smell it when you're walking I'm sure. It likes to grow in woodland around the base of trees and its such a delicious and delicate flavour and theres so much you can do with it! Its really easy to identify, once it has flowered it can still be used too! If you're not sure if you've got the right plant just break a bit up in your hands and the smell will be a strong tell tale. I added some mushrooms for a bit of variation in the texture but it would be just as good without them.


Ingredients:
150g arborio risotto rice (rinsed)
1 onion
30g butter
60ml white wine
6 or 7 closed cup mushrooms (or chestnut mushrooms)
50 or so leaves of wild garlic
1.5 litres chicken stock
30g grated parmesan
Splash of double cream

Method:

Start making this like a normal risotto, sweat the diced onion with a small amount of the butter (reserving some for the end) and some oil, then add the sliced mushrooms. Once these are cooked add the rice and stir until its all coated in the fats and add the wine over a high heat and stir quickly. The alcohol will evaporate quickly but the acidic flavour will be absorbed by the rice giving a lovely flavour, then gradually add the chicken stock continuing the stirring over a lower heat. Once the rice is almost done (about 15 minutes quite al dente) add some chopped wild garlic to get the flavour in. I wanted the risotto to have a good green colour so I wilted half the garlic and blended it to make a pulp. I added this right at the end with the finishing touches.

The rice may need a bit more stock after this, make sure you taste the rice and check its properly done. Once it is done, add the blended garlic then add the butter (it may look like a lot of butter but it adds such a good velvety texture and flavour.) Then the parmesan and the cream. Season and then taste again as I see risotto as a personal thing and you may need to add more cheese or butter. If the blended garlic is in the risotto for too long it will lose its bright green colour.
   
   As this dish is green it doesn't look so nice with green cresses so I picked some colourful pansies to make it look prettier, but thats a matter of opinion.

How To....lazy sundays (home made pizzas)

Sometimes after a big meal on a Saturday night or maybe someones too hungover to make a roast and the house is full, the perfect thing to do on a Sunday is DIY pizza. It's one of those things that no matter what your age putting whatever you want on a pizza is endlessly enjoyable. And will always taste good. Pretty much no matter what... This recipe made enough for 4 adults and one little person, each pizza was strangely sized and we mix and matched but were all full by the end! Little tip before you pile up the pizza, make sure the base is on the tray before you start as its really difficult to move it once its topped. 

Dough:
250g strong white flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dried yeast 

125ml warm water

30ml olive oil 

Mix the flour, salt and yeast together in a large bowl. Combine the oil and the water and make a well in the flour then add the liquid and stir slightly to make a wet dough. I used my kenwood chef and used the dough hook attachment and mixed it for about 10 minutes on a slow speed. Then covered with cling film and left next to the Aga or in a warm place. This isn't essential but it gives time to prepare all the lovely toppings! 

First I made a tomato sauce to go on the base, use a handful of fresh tomatoes, 1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, 2 gloves garlic, handful of fresh basil and a sprinkle of dried oregano. Chop the garlic roughly and fry in a generous amount of olive oil until you can really smell it, then add the fresh tomatoes and fry for about 1 minute then add the tinned toms. Using your hands rip up the basil and add to the pan and add the oregano. Cook this until it's boiling and add some salt and sugar (tomatoes have a very bitter taste when cooked without sugar. You should add a teaspoon per tin, even in Bolognese) Once the sauce has boiled use a bamix to blend it up so you can spread it easily. 

Now for the toppings!!! Me and my family really went to town on this. We had:

Figs

Goats cheese

Mozzarella 

Cheddar Cheese

Spinach 

Caramelised red onion (see goats cheese tart recipe for caramelised onion recipe)

Mushrooms 

Ham 

Chorizo 

We all went for something different of course, my favourite however was a little bit of sauce, then spinach, red onion sliced fig and goats cheese. This was so delicious. However my little brother just went for cheese and ham. One was made with chorizo, mushroom and mozzarella which was also a success.

As these pizza's are fresh they only take 5-10 minutes to cook, depending on how much you pile on. In the aga you can cook these on a tray or on the base of the top right oven. In a normal oven preheat to 200.c and cook on a tray until the cheese is bubbling and the crusts are crispy.

BEST chocolate tart serves 10-12

I haven't written any posts on sweet food yet, so I thought my first one should be the best one! I got this recipe from one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants while I was doing my work experience and fell in love entirely. Every day when they were cutting the tart into portions they would cut a little extra bit off and save it for me. This chocolate tart really does taste like velvet, its so silky and smooth and just everything a person could want if they're feeling happy, sad, angry, jealous, hungover or any other mood. Its chocolate perfection. 

For this not to be too over whelming I serve it with salted caramel ice cream, the cheats way but shh.

Ingredients
sweet pastry: 
250g plain flour
125g butter
125g icing sugar
1 egg
filling:
200g 55% chocolate 
125ml double cream 
75ml whole milk
40 whole egg (approx two large, weigh them as they can vary)
Salted caramel ice cream:
tub of vanilla ice cream from the supermarket 
50g butter 
75g soft brown sugar 
40ml double cream 
salt to taste 

Method
Make the pastry by combining all the ingredients and rolling out, it can be quite fiddly, and you might need to put it into the tart tin in a few bits and push it together. Bake this in in the over with grease proof paper and baking beans at 180.C for 12 minutes, take the beans off and allow to cool. 
For the filling bring the milk and cream to the boil and then pour over the broken chocolate. Stir this gently to make a ganache, then fold in the whole egg. emulsify this mix with a bamix (little handheld blender whoosher blender thing as I call it) until smooth and glossy and there are no air bubbles. Pour into the pre baked tart case and blow torch the top to remove any air bubbles. cook this in the oven at 100.C for 54 minutes. I know this seems very precise but its so worth it. 
Meanwhile take the ice cream out of the freezer so it defrosts a little bit and make the salted caramel. Melt the butter in a pan and once it is all melted add the sugar and stir until melted, then add the double cream. This is more of a matter of a opinion so you can add more or less cream or more butter etc depending on how you want your caramel. then stir in the salt and taste, add more salt if needed or more cream! Then poke the ice cream a bit and stir the caramel into it, making sure its distributed in a sort of ripple throughout the ice cream. Put this back in the freezer to solidify again. When the tart is done allow it cool and then serve with a scoop of the ice cream, give the tart a blast with the blow torch again to make it nice and shiny. 

Enjoy! 

Don't blame me if you can't stop eating this, I did warn you. 

Figs with goats cheese and parma ham

This is a great starter for dinner party; really easy to do, it can be made in advance and impressive for the amount of work done! serves 4

Ingredients
4 figs
sliced goats cheese from supermarket, only one slice per fig.
8 slices parma ham
25g bag of rocket
olive oil and balsamic to dress

Method 
cut the end off the fig and do a criss cross on the top of it. Just about half way through the fig. Cut the slice of goats cheese in half, and then cut one of those halves into half again, so basically a quarter. Push the halved piece into one of the cuts you did into the fig, and then for the other cut use the little quartered pieces and push them into the other cut. It should be a criss cross of goat cheese, then wrap this up in two slices of parma ham and cook in the oven at 180.c for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is oozing out a bit and the ham looks crispy. Serve hot on a bed of rocket with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar drizzled over.

Best pasta bake; serves 4

I was having a minor dilemma with a full fridge but somehow not knowing what I wanted to eat. We've all been in the this situation one time or another, so this has dish has a plethora of somewhat obscure ingredients thrown together.

Ingredients: 

500g macaroni or small tube pasta (I like to use tubes because they get sauce in them and make the most of the flavour, but any pasta will do) 
5 rashers of bacon
1 courgette 
Large handful of basil
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes 
60ml double cream 
50g grated cheddar cheese
mozzarella, however much you want! 


Method: 

Slice the bacon into small chunks, and slice the courgettes, I cut them in half first and then slice them. Put a large pan of water on to boil and salt generously, while this is coming to the boil fry the bacon it in a non stick pan with some olive oil. Fry the bacon until crispy, but not too crispy. Once this has cooked add the courgettes and sliced basil to the bacon. Put the pasta in the water once is has boiled. Once the courgettes have cooked add the tin of tomatoes (and half a tea spoon of sugar to take some of the acidity away) to the bacon and courgettes until it boils, then the cream and let that boil to ensure the cheese all melts through. Add the cheddar cheese to the sauce and stir through, taste and add salt if needed. The bacon should have given the sauce a nice meaty flavour and be nice and thick. The sauce may look like quite a lot, but as its going to be baked in the over some of the liquid will evaporate and you'll be left with an amazingly thick and flavoursome sauce that. Add the sauce to the pasta once it has cooked and put in a dish, top generously with creamy mozzarella and salt and pepper and bake at 200.c for 8-10 minutes or until the mozzarella has melted nicely and enjoy! 

Le Manoir Oxford Review

A short review; Le Manoir, Oxford. 

One of the best christmas presents I’ve ever received, it was a taste phenomenon for 4 hours straight. Presented with a glass of champagne on arrival my mother and I sat in a homey yet outstanding room with a roaring fire. Our amuse bouche, four delightful canapés were bought to us. They looked like they had been carefully placed together with the most delicate preparation. Each texture complementing the other beautifully, a quenelle of goats cheese, with truffle honey on a crispy melba toast allowed your teeth to melt through the cheese followed by a satisfying crunch.

We were shown to an eye opening, bright room with closely lined tables, but not so you felt you like you were sharing your meal with the people next door to you. Waiters appeared as if by nowhere just when you needed them, before you even had a chance to summon one. A dropped bread roll was immediately replaced, complete with a new knife, napkin and plate. This all happened before I even leant down to get it. 

To begin a shot glass of foamed warm pumpkin soup with Kirsch giving it a good kick and slight heat as it travels down the esophagus. Towards the glass was a small, almost magical, trail of ground hazelnuts, as though Hansel and Gretel themselves left it. Next came a melt in the mouth sensation of duck liver parfait with prunes and cinnamon. To my surprise this wasn’t served with a type of bread of brioche, but some indian poaches apple cubes. The refreshing apple cut through the rich and smooth parfait, also adding a beautiful crunch. The apple truly was a taste explosion, as it tasted apple like and crunchy at first, but once bitten into with the duck livers it gave off a mind blowing indian scent, marrying with the duck perfectly. Liver parfait can sometimes be overwhelmingly rich but I could have polished off that course a good few more times! 

A somewhat bitter and unique tasting watercress puree sat at the bottom of my bowl, topped with a poached hen egg. Around the edge of the plate some Jabugo ham adding saltiness and texture that the dish was craving. Almost nothing can compete with the astounding joy of cutting into a poached egg and seeing the golden middle set free and spilling onto the plate. This was a glorious poached egg with a mindbogglingly crispy top as it had been put under the grill. The yolk oozed into the watercress puree subtracting from the bitterness and becoming smooth and salty. Once again, to my pleasant surprise there was nothing overwhelmingly rich about the dish thanks to the sharp puree. 

Next three small cubes of the most breathtakingly tender duck that it practically fell apart when I put my fork into it. The sauce made from morello cherries and cinnamon was very sweet, but married with the duck perfectly. As well as this sweet sauce with whole cherries there was a creamy smooth almond puree that added a whole different taste dimension to the dish. This was the largest dish of the meal, although everyone of them was faultlessly portioned, the courses began to get smaller again. The next dish was a truly astounding bowl of smooth goats cheese with truffle honey, topped with fresh grated black truffle and two slices of dense walnut bread. As every other blameless dish in this fantastic meal, there was of course an accompaniment to cut through the richness of the cheese. Served with this was a some stewed celery, however the celery was fresh and crunchy, but not veiny like raw celery. This was everything you would want from celery without the undesirable part.

 At this point during the most amazing meal of my life I was just beginning to feel full. The wondrous kind of full when you’ve filled your body with only the best foods. However we were only just over half way through the meal and I was worried about how much more I could fit in. Luckily for me a palette cleanser was on its way and I suddenly felt light as air again. An exotic fruit ravioli was placed in front of me, coated in mango filled with pineapple and passionfruit. The gorgeous bright orange colour of the ravioli contrasted with the clean white coconut sorbet like a shining sun in the middle. This is the sort of dish that transports you to another country entirely. The exotic fruits making you think of gorgeous white beaches and the smooth slightly Malibu tasting coconut sorbet lightened my stomach and refreshed me entirely, like a cool breeze. I was then ready for the final course of poached pear in caramel. This was served with vanilla creme chiboust ice cream, topped with gold leaf. The pear had underlying tones of licorice which was pleasantly surprising, this did not taste like the sort of licorice you dread eating as a child, but subtle and sweet. 

This meal was indescribably delicious but I have tried to share with you an experience more than a meal. Faultless.

Using up Christmas left overs (gammon and turkey)

So everyone always has left over food from Christmas, whether its gammon from boxing day or turkey from Christmas day, and as hard as you might try you somehow can't stop the men from eating dry turkey and ham sandwiches. In my eyes these ingredients can make some lovely dishes.

Left over gammon and mushroom pasta (serves 4)

Ingredients:
500g pasta (your choice, my favourites are farfale or spaghetti)
left over gammon cut up

2 large leeks 
1 clove garlic (crushed)
50g butter 
2 tbsp plain or wholemeal flour (give or take) 
60ml milk 
100g grated cheddar cheese 
Handful of fresh parsley 

Method: 

I'm a sort of chef who thinks pasta is a beautiful type of food that doesn't need any recipes cause it will always taste great. But I just realised I think that because I cover my pasta in cheese and cream and who wouldn't want that? So I've done this recipe using a roux rather than cream. I have kept the ingredients quite vague as its a matter of opinion really how much cheese or sauce you like. This dish can be made with almost any additions, if you're looking for a more healthy alternative to carbonara, this is perfect. 
Put a large pan of water on to boil for the pasta with plenty of salt. Start by slicing the leeks thinly and frying them in a small amount of olive with the crushed garlic. Put the pasta onto boil. Once the leeks are cooked through and have come apart add the butter to the pan until it melts, and then add a tbsp of flour and stir for at least 30 seconds. The butter should have been absorbed, add more flour if it has not. The sauce will look lumpy and unappetising at this point. Once you have stirred the flour for at least 30 seconds (the starch granules need to swell and absorb moisture) add a small amount of milk. Stir vigorously now as the lumps will come out and the milk will thicken. Keep adding the milk until you have a decent amount of sauce (I personally like a lot) then add the grated cheese. Stir until all the cheese is melted. Add the chopped gammon now and allow it to heat through. Drain the pasta, but reserve some of the water from the pan and add it to the sauce if it is getting too thick. (the flour granules will continue to burst, making the sauce thicker while it is still hot). Once the sauce as reached your desired consistency stir in the pasta, top with chopped fresh parsley and enjoy! 




"Sick food"  (serves 4)

I urge you not to be put off by the name! In my family this is what we call it as its just the perfect thing for when you're feeling poorly, but its also delicious when you're healthy of course! This recipe is using up your left over turkey in a fantastic way. Similar to the recipe above, the additions can altered, we usually make this dish with chicken, but with left over turkey its just as lovely.

Ingredients:
left over turkey 
250g mushrooms sliced
350g long grain rice 
50ml double cream 
2 tbsp creme fraiche 

Method: 
Cook the rice (2:1 ratio water to rice cooks perfectly), fry the sliced mushrooms and then add the cream and creme fraiche, if its too thick add some water from the rice. When the sauce boils add the left over turkey, you only want to it add it at the end as it could turn to mush with lots of cooking, and then serve over rice. Top with fresh parsley if desired. 

REVIEW: Luscombes: The Golden Ball

This is my first food review I've done, and I had quite a choice of pubs/restaurants I could write about recently, so I thought I'd just choose my favourite, which was certainly The Golden Ball. 



We came here after a hard day's work for some late food, thinking we'd only have one course, two at a push, and all three of us ended up having three courses. We weren't swayed by the charm of the waiting staff if thats what you're thinking (although they were charming) but all the food on the menu was worth making space for. 
            The idyllic setting of this restaurant adds to the attraction, the beautiful rolling hills all around the area are perfect if you fancy a long walk and then cosy, but mouthwatering, meal. Not only is this lovely to look at, but of course, as its in the country, the food is seasonal and local. To set the scene of the inside I want to you imagine a typical country grandmother house, with slightly wonky ceilings and walls, with worn out beams and chipped tiles, the fire lit and a sense of security and ease. Then imagine the best food from the centre of London, all in this comfort, with much more attentive and intimate waiters and waitresses, who seem to be just as happy to serve you as you are to be eating there. Surely this is all anyone wants?! 
      Sometimes you go to eat somewhere and you get food envy. It happens to all of us, and its impossible to avoid, either from people sitting near you, or on your very own table. My mother had this exact problem the other day with me, the food I ordered was just better than hers! But at The Golden Ball this doesn't happen, you might have a little think about someone else's food, but as soon as you get your own plate anything like that entirely disappears. The proof is in three people's three sparkling clean plates at our table. 

        So to begin, we all had different starters, which I thoroughly enjoyed as I got to taste all of them! Luckily mine was my favourite. I had a local duck terrine with caramelised apple and toasted brioche. This dish really was delicious, and a great starter as it certainly left me wanting more. The terrine had cabbage around the outside to hold its shape, which added a nice colour -along with the curly leaf parsley- to the plate. The duck was beautifully pink, and the caramelised apple was sweet enough to have a different taste dimension to the duck, but still had crunch enough to taste like raw apple. Giving the dish a nice bite every now and then. The most pleasant surprise on the plate for me was the very delicate drizzle of truffle oil around the edge. Not every mouthful had a taste of truffle, so practically every time I got one it was fresh and new. The brioche was perfect; perfectly toasted (not too hard not too soft), perfect thickness and perfect sweetness with the apple and duck. There was not a single bite left. 
The other starters on our table were also fantastic, not only taste but also aesthetically. The picture to the left is cheese soufflé, it came with a celery salad in a thick cream, and baby salad leaves. I was most impressed with the appearance of this dish out of the starters as the soufflé was standing magnificently upright and grand. The celery was diced into well sized squares. The soufflé was very light, just as it should be, yet had a good sharp cheese taste. The next starter was simple, but very delicious, and once again the plate was clean. The picture to the right is is squid rings and tentacles in a potato batter with lemon juice and parsley, with a small bed of baby salad leaves. The squid had a thin covering of the potato batter, yet gas a sense of a substantial feel in the mouth. The lemon juice cut through this and made it just right to eat a decent sized plate of it. The rings were just the right size to have no fuss about eating them in one. A great selection of starters all round! 

     
   I opted for one of the specials, as the beer battered cod and chips wasn't available. My special was a tiger prawn and tomato spaghetti. The spaghetti was home made and had no faults, the texture was great and the portion size good. The prawns were of great quality and cooked to a T, however the tomatoes had a sweet taste to them, as though they had been flash fried in some sweet syrup. It was subtle, but each taste was slightly spicy and then oddly sweet. I personally would have preferred this dish without the sweet dimension, but it was still above average! My mother and Jim both ordered the same main and pudding, not that I can blame them as they had the fillet steak with blanched spinach and green beans with crispy potatoes. 

This is a real hearty dish and definitely warms from the inside out. The steak cut effortlessly, and was melt in the mouth pink on the inside. I really liked the way the steak was served, with a small and elegant portion of potatoes and some vegetables with a thick jus gravy. Its rare to find a steak that isn't surrounded by chips, with a token salad leaf. 

After this we had assumed we would go home as it was already quite late, and we were the last people left. But we were feeling too comfortable in our intimate surroundings we just couldn't leave! That, and we all have a sweet tooth. Again mummy and Jim ordered the same pudding, titled 'banana meringue' which sounds simple enough I thought, until this was bought to the table. A skyscraper of a dessert, presented with whipped cream, meringue, caramelised banana on the bottom with sweet hot caramel poured all over it. I didn't get to try much of this dish as I was very hypnotised by my chocolate, but by the look of the clean plates, it was not at all too sickening or sweet. And certainly magnificently presented.


 I, for one, can't ever resist a chocolate fondant, the warmth of the thick melted chocolate is just too just to turn down. My hot chocolate fondant was served with pistachio gelato, which went beautifully as the rich chocolate taste was slightly toned down by the smooth and fresh pistachio. I had to stop the conversation momentarily so I could make everyone try the chocolate, it was gone much too fast, and I probably could have eaten a whole new plate of it. Of course the little details are just as important; the little chocolate cigarillo was the best detail for me, again it was a pleasant and unexpected surprise, and it had an acidic taste to it, which I'm identifying as raspberry. 

All in all I can hardly fault this meal, the food was all superb and cleaned up nicely. The staff were friendly and held up conversation with smiles and laughter, while constantly being there to fill up water glasses before we'd even noticed they were empty. I will certainly be recommending and returning. 
                                                                    

             

Chicken curry

I was looking through my Indian cookery books  for a new recipe to try out for a cosy boxing day meal, however I didn't find one that was speaking to me. I knew what I wanted, which was something with almonds, but also spicy, with plenty of sauce for my rice, and nothing I was reading was giving me this. So henceforth comes a curry I decided to invent with all these factors. Even though it was my first time creating a curry without a recipe, I think it was a success!



Ingredients
For the chicken marinade:
1/2tsp turmeric 
1/2 tsp cayenne 
1 1/4 tsp ground cumin 
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander 
1/4 tsp salt 

Depending on how many people your'e cooking for just use that many chicken breasts (if they're small, add one for the pan too) Give them a rinse under water just for good measure, then cut them into pieces you'd like to have in a curry. Put all those spices on the chicken, stir it until all the chicken has a good covering then cover with cling film and leave to marinate for at least an hour. 

Other ingredients! 
1 onion peeled and finely sliced
1/2 tsp cayenne 
1 tsp ground cumin 
1 tsp ground coriander 
1 kaffir lime leaf
30g ground almonds 
2 red chillies 
1 inch piece of fresh ginger
4 cloves of garlic 
75ml water 
1 tbsp tomato puree diluted with 120ml hot water 
400g tinned/chopped tomatoes 
6 tbsp natural yogurt (approx)
4 tbsp double cream (approx)
Basmati rice to serve 

Method

Use a casserole dish with a thick base for this as it will need to simmer in the oven for sometime to intensify the flavour and ensure the chicken is fully cooked. Chop the chillies roughly, and peels the garlic and ginger, place in a small blender with the 75ml of water and blend to make a paste. Depending on how spicy you want your curry you can either leave in the seeds of the chilli or leave them in. I personally left them in. Then sear the chicken in a single layer on the pan and then place on a plate with a slotted spoon. The chicken won't even be nearly cooked, this just traps there marinade on and gives them a good colour.

Once you have browned all the chicken pieces in this way fry the onion until soft and then turn down the heat and add your chilli-garlic-ginger paste. The water will very quickly boil away. The onions may still look liquidy but thats fine, now add the remaining spices and the ground almonds. Stir this around for at least 1 minute, then add your chopped tomato and tomato puree. Turn the heat back up and boil this. now add the natural yogurt. Now I like a saucy curry, and I like it to be smooth, so at this stage I get my hand held blender out and give it a good whiz to make it really smooth and velvety. This is matter of opinion however, so the blending isn't entirely necessary. Have a little taste, it will be spicy, but the cream added at the end will help this. If you don't like it this spicy then add a little more yogurt and taste again, don't mask all the spice though! Now add the chicken pieces back in with any accumulated juices, bring back to the boil then simmer for up to an hour. To check all the chicken is cooked take out a big piece and just cut into to check. (Or if you have a food probe give a piece of chicken a poke and the temperature in the middle should be 80-90 .C) 
As this curry is quite spicy I like to make the rice with a splash of double cream, it just makes it all a bit more mild! I also add 1/2tsp turmeric to make the rice yellow to give the dish some authenticity. A great trick with rice is double the water compared to rice, e.g 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water, perfect rice every time!! Then to finish it all off some spiced yogurt, which I make to go with all indian things, its a 2;1 ratio of natural yogurt to creme fraiche with 1/4tsp or ground cumin and 1/8tsp cayenne.