Obesity crisis!

I come from a generation where my siblings and I were taught to cook from an early age. Everything was cooked from scratch in our home. Only a few short decades later, we have an obesity crisis in the UK which is showing no signs of abating.

One of the things I love showing and teaching my clients is how they can make their favourite Indian food in a healthy way. The ‘secret’ is simple – you control how you cook it, the amount of fat you use, whether you deep fry or oven roast, whether you use butter or vegetable oil.

Let’s take the nation’s favourite curry – chicken tikka masala – not quite authentic, but we’ll leave that debate for another day.

At least 18 tonnes of chicken tikka masala is eaten across the country each week, served up by Britain’s 15,000 Indian restaurants. In the UK, we spend more than £250 million a year on Indian curries, with chicken tikka masala being the nation’s favourite choice.

Below is the fat content for a chicken tikka masala sold in a well-known supermarket.

So what if I told you, that you could easily learn to cook a really tasty chicken curry yourself with a much lower fat content and that you can control the sugar and salt content?

Indian food cooked in homes is completely different to that sold in Indian takeaways and supermarkets. Both could make a real difference to the obesity crisis.

Most of all, I would really love to see a plan of action from the government centred on the re-education of children which includes a significant element of the curriculum on healthy cooking and which also encourages parents to make time to cook from scratch at home with their children. I recently took part in a Durham County Council outreach programme taking healthy food to school children. This was the initiative of an enlightened local authority in my view, but so much more needs to be done right across the UK with the impetus coming from central and local government.

I would love to see a chunk of Government funding going into opening adult cooking classes up and down the UK for people to attend. These could embrace cooking of really nutritious food on a budget, featuring many delicious home-cooked recipes. Maybe we could use currently empty buildings to set up these healthy-eating cooking classes, with a view to revitalising some localities that are going through tough times. These are my thoughts and surely if we put the country’s best brains on this problem we can come up with a compelling and workable concept? I hope this could be a little food for thought for those who can make the biggest difference.

Finally, I think it’s very important to stress that obesity is a very complex issue that often stems from childhood with deep-rooted problems which need to be addressed. If sugar tax is the first part of a Government framework for really tackling the issue head-on – then where are the other elements of the framework?? It’s not simply about the price of some soft drinks!

Here’s my recipe for a healthy and tasty chicken curry. It’s my tiny contribution to this huge and disturbing issue. The bigger picture is that for every family which makes a start and cooks more healthy home-cooked food instead of reaching for the take-away menu, we have made a start…

Chicken Curry

Preparation time 30 minutes, cooking time 75 minutes. Marinate overnight.
Serves 4

Ingredients
350 g boneless and skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
350 g boneless and skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces

For the Marinade

150 g natural yogurt
Juice of one freshly squeezed lemon
1 tsp pulped garlic
1 tsp pulped ginger
1 tsp tomato paste
2 tbs tamarind pulp

Key Spices
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 1 inch piece of cassia bark
1 Indian bay leaf
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli flakes

Warming Spices
1 tsp fenugreek leaves, soaked in 2 tbs hot water
4 green cardamoms, lightly bashed
2 cloves

Wet Ingredients
2 tbs vegetable oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
400 g good quality tinned chopped tomatoes
1 tsp jaggery, grated
1 tsp pulped garlic
1 tsp pulped ginger
2-4 fresh finger green chillies, pierced (add less for a milder curry)
6-8 curry leaves
140 ml water (more if you prefer your sauce to be not as thick)
2 tsp tamarind pulp

Garnish
Small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
Zest of one lemon

Method
Place the chicken thighs and breasts in a large bowl, add the marinade ingredients, stir and coat well. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge overnight.

Remove from the fridge, set aside, and allow the chicken to come to room temperature.

Take a small dry frying pan, set on a low heat, and warm through the cumin, coriander seeds and mustard seeds. This should only take one minute. Remove from the heat, add to the pestle and mortar and grind coarsely.

Take a large sauté pan, add the oil and warm on a low heat. Then add the onions, cassia bark and bay leaf. Sauté for 5 minutes.

Add the turmeric and red chilli flakes, stir and cook for a further two minutes.

Add the chopped tomatoes and jaggery, and continue to sauté for at least a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

By cooking these ingredients for a little longer, your curry will definitely taste better.

Now add the garlic, ginger and green chillies, and continue to cook for 2 minutes.

Add the contents of the pestle and mortar, stir well, and continue to fry until you see that the mixture resembles a paste, and the oil starts to separate from the onions and tomatoes.

If the ingredients start to become a little dry or the spices start to burn, simply add a little water.

Add the marinated chicken and fresh curry leaves (rip these into smaller pieces).

Turn the heat up to medium, stir really well, and allow the chicken to seal for at least 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the water and bring to the boil, then immediately reduce to a simmer.

Add the soaked fenugreek leaves, green cardamoms, cloves and tamarind pulp, and place the lid on the pan.

Cook for 25 minutes or until the chicken is tender, and the sauce is thick.

Remove from the heat, and stir in the fresh coriander and lemon zest.

Leave for 5 minutes before serving.

Remember to count the cardamoms and cloves in and then count them out again before serving.