Lily Kwok's Chinese Chicken Curry

I saw this on The People's Cookbook and just had to try it. It was submitted by Lily's grand-daughter Helen, who told the story of how Lily left Hong Kong, bound for England on a three month sea voyage. At every port Lily would collect spices and experiment with them. When she arrived in England, she perfected this curry and made it for friends and neighbours, later opening a restaurant based on this dishes popularity.Lily is still alive and still cooking curry for friends and neighbours. This dish beat the opposition and won it's way into The Peoples Cookbook. It's a great curry with big, bold flavours, worth every bit of effort that goes into it. Just remember Lily when you eat it.

• Ready In: 1 hr 20 mins
• Serves: 2

Ingredients

• Sauce

• 6  tablespoons  vegetable oil or 6  tablespoons ghee
• 3  onions, finely chopped
• 4  cm  piece gingerroot, peeled and thinly sliced
• 4  garlic cloves, sliced
• 4  mild fleshy red chilies, seeded and chopped
• 1⁄2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cumin
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  coriander
• 1⁄2 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 1⁄2 teaspoons curry powder
• 125  ml water
• 2 1⁄2 teaspoons plain flour
• 2 1⁄2 teaspoons self raising flour
• 400 -500  ml  chicken stock

• Chicken

• 3 -4  tablespoons cornflour
• 2  boneless skinless chicken breasts, and cut into strips
• 2  tablespoons  oil
• 1⁄2 onion, thinly sliced
• 2  tablespoons peas

Directions

1. SAUCE:
2. Heat the oil or ghee in a heavy based pan or wok over high heat. Add the onion and stir fry for 3 minutes, or until starting to soften, but not brown.
3. Add the ginger, garlic and chillies and continue stir-frying for 30 seconds and then reduce heat to very low and leave to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is completely soft, but nothing browns.
4. Stir in the turmeric, cumin, coriander, chili and curry powders and continue cooking very gently for 5 minutes. Don't burn the spices or they will taste acrid; sprinkle on a few drops of water if you're worried. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool a little.
5. Put the water into a food processor or blender, then add contents of the pan. Blend until everything is very smooth, then add both flours and blend again. Put the pureed mixture back into the pan and simmer for 20-30 minutes (longer the better) over a very low heat, stirring occasionally. Add a little hot water if it starts to catch, but the idea is to gently fry the sauce so that it darkens in colour to an orangey brown. Once you have a thick paste, gradually stir in the stock and simmer until the sauce has reduced.
6. CHICKEN:
7. Season the cornflour and toss the chicken strips in this to coat them. Heat the oil in a large fry pan over high heat. Add the chicken and stir-fry for a couple of minutes, until they turn white. Add the onion and the peas and stir-fry a few minutes more. Then stir in the curry sauce and heat until everything is hot.