DELICIOUS Samoan Chicken Curry Kale Moa

This Samoan chicken curry is the ultimate in comfort. It's easy to make and mildly spicy and wonderfully creamy. Even a chilli fiend like me adores this curry. Chicken pieces are cooked with potatoes and carrots and then finished with coconut cream and a flour roux to thicken it up even further. You will lick the bowl with this. This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader especially if you love coconut curries!

The recipe for this Samoan Chicken Curry or Kale Moa is from Auntie Vila and I found it on the internet so I can't lay claim to developing it or even eating it in Samoa. All I know is that it is utterly delicious so I leave it to the expertise and wisdom of Auntie Vila. It uses chicken thighs, potatoes and carrots and the ingredients are simple and easy to find. You can also use chicken pieces or chicken breast or tenderloins if you prefer.

I have made this a couple of times in the last few weeks because while it is spring, it's still not really that warm yet and this is perfect for the in between seasons. Still the weather has been encouragement enough to go out a bit more. The other day Monica and I had one of our quickie lunches. I drove to her house and we jumped in her car and she drove to a café. She was excited because she had just gotten her car back from the auto repair shop. Her partner Marco had been in an accident a few weeks before and it took a few weeks for them to fix her car.

As we were driving she slowed down as the car in front of us was turning right into a street. Then I heard a loud thud.

"Was that a pot hole?" I asked her, confused as the car was standing still.

"No, we've been rear ended!" said Monica.

She turned off into a side street as did the other driver. He was a young P Plater with his girlfriend. The entire front of his car was crumpled and we could smell the radiator. It looked bad and it didn't look drivable.

"Are you ok? Is everyone ok?" said Monica who is great in a crisis. The guy's girlfriend was in some sort of shocked state, all she could do was stare at the front of their car. "How is your car?" he asked and we hadn't actually looked so they exchanged details and then we took a look at the back of Monica's car. To our shock it looked like it hadn't been touched! Perhaps it was the higher height of her 4WD and the bonnet of the other car going into the rear bumper. I was just relieved for her that she didn't have to take it back to the shop!

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever been rear ended? Do you like spicy food?

Samoan Chicken Curry Kale Moa

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Serves: 6-8

• Oil for frying (coconut oil is good here)

• 1 large brown or white onion, peeled and chopped

• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 tablespoons curry powder*
• 850g/1.9lbs chicken thighs, boneless, cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups coconut cream or milk
• 400g/14ozs. potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
• Salt to season
• 6 tablespoons/90g/3ozs. plain all purpose flour
• Steamed rice or coconut rice to serve

I use Baba's Meat Curry Powder available at most Asian grocery stores

Step 1 - Heat oil in a large cast iron pot and sauté the onion for 5 minutes on medium heat until softened but not browned. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute. Then add the curry powder and stir to coat the onion mixture and cook for 1-2 minutes adding a bit more oil if needed.

Step 2 - Add the chicken pieces and turn in the curry onion mixture and brown for a few minutes. Then add the stock and place the lid on and simmer for 10 minutes.

Step 3 -Add the potatoes and carrots and place the lid back on and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and test the potatoes and carrots for doneness cooking longer if needed (you don't want them mushy but you do want them to be tender). Season with salt. Add the coconut cream and stir-don't worry if it seems overly oily or orange at this stage.

Step 4 -Mix the flour with 6-7 tablespoons of the curry liquid in a measuring cup to form a slurry. Add this back into the pot stirring to distribute the flour thickener well. Keep cooking on medium heat or a low simmer where it will thicken and become pale over the next 5 minutes. Serve with rice.