I know what you’re thinking, “a curry? For a baby?”. Yip.If you haven’t heard of korma yet,it’s a curry paste that makes for a pretty gentle curry, that’s baby-friendly, packed with flavour and a great way to add diversity to your bub’s palate. Best of all this dish only takes about 20 min cooking time. These are all things you want to hear when introducing solids to your littlies: baby-friendly, packed with flavour, palate diversity, and quick cooking.
Personally, the words “quick cooking” alone are magic to my ears. Gone are my days of culinary experimentation over lanquid cooking sessions. Gone, for now at least. Right now, being a working mom of two leaves me too tired and time-constrained to go ape with any gourmet desires I used to pursue. What I need are quick and simple meals to cook that are healthy, tasty and guaranteed to be consumed AND enjoyed by my WHOLE family.
So enter this firm favourite of my home,Chicken Korma curry. Not only because it tastes so yum, or that its so easy to make, but because it’s a dish that the whole fam can enjoy.No more seperate cooking for baby and family- aint nobody got time for that! This was actually one of the first baby dishes I made for my first daughter who was weaning. And after taste-testing it one day , I realised it was seriously delicious,and why wasn’t I making it for me? I could totally rock this as a family meal. So off I went and made a bigger pot version of this baby-friendly curry, and was a real hit as I suspected.
I saw this recipe on Annabel Karmel’s website – you should definitely check her site out here for more interesting baby recipes. Its pretty similar to another dish I make, except instead of korma, I would use green thai curry paste, so most of the ingredients I had in pantry anyway.
Theoretically, prep time should take about 8 min, but add a toddler to that and realistically you’re looking at maybe 15 min. Add a baby to the mix and you could start tipping the prep time scale at 20 min. Maybe more…Depends on how crazy toilet-training is going at that point. Or if you have mastered singing “happy and you know it”, with actions while chopping onions yet…But theoretically, its 8 minutes.
Please note though, that this dish is suitable from 9 months onwards. And for baby I would normally dish out baby’s portion or portions if you intend to freeze some extra for future ready-meals, then whizz it up to the suitable texture. The rest can be served as is to the family. Also please note that if I make for baby alone, I add the pasta shells. However, if its for the entire family, I omit the pasta and just serve up with basmati rice and roast veggies.
Ingredients
For baby alone:
-
50 g ( about 2 1/2 oz) baby pasta shells
2 tsp sunflower oil
50g (2 oz) onion, finely diced
1/4 tsp fresh ginger, grated (optional)
2 tsp mild korma curry paste
150 ml (1/4 pint) chicken stock
100 ml (3 1/2/ fl oz) coconut milk/cream
15g (1/2 oz) dried apricots, roughly chopped
50g (2 oz) butternut squash, finely diced
75g (3 oz) chicken breast, chopped into small pieces.
For family:
-
2 tsp sunflower oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated (optional)
3 tsp mild korma curry paste
250 ml chicken stock
1 can coconut milk/cream
60g dried apricots, roughly chopped
½ medium butternut squash, peeled and chopped up
About 5 chicken breast fillets, chopped into pieces.
Directions:
If using the pasta, cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet and drain.
Heat the oil in a saucepan.
Add the onion and ginger and saute for 5 minutes.
Add the curry paste.
Push all of this to one side of the pot and fry chicken on the other side of pot .Else you can fry chicken in a separate pot. If you’re so inclined. I am not. Call me lazy, but for me thats just one extra to pot to wash!
Then add the stock and coconut milk.
Add the apricots and butternut.
Bring to the boil, then simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes until the butternut squash is soft but not overcooked.
For the baby, this is where you would add the pasta and mix in gently, then whizz until you’ve reached the desired texture using a hand blender.
And taaadaaa…Dinner is served!
Do let me know how this one goes down with your family, particularly your weaning wee one! If however, said wee one refuses to dig in, despite the culinary high you may be feeling, do not feel dismayed. Just remember, it could take up to 20 times of exposing your wee one to a food before he/she eventually takes to it. So dont give up! Keep exposing wee one’s palate to an array of different foods! (except of course the ones he/shes allergic to – duh!)
Happy cooking!
Sounds lovely
So glad u finally shared this! Can’t wait to try it out!