Moroccan stir-fry chicken with couscous

This is a quick and tasty mid-week dinner for one. Once the preparation is done, this meal takes about 10 minutes to cook. If cooking for more people, just multiply the quantities by the number of people. You can also add dried apricots, chick peas, courgettes etc. if desired. Fresh coriander leaves can be used to garnish.

Ingredients
2tbsp Sainsbury's Stir Fry Oil
2 tsp Sainsbury's Moroccan Style Tagine paste
1 chicken breast fillet, sliced
1/2 red pepper, deseeded and cut into small slices
1/2 red chilli. deseeded and finely sliced
4 spring onions, sliced
100ml water
1 tsp cornflour mixed with 2 tsp water
handful sultanas
handful flaked almonds
1 pack Sainsbury's Coriander & Lemon Savoury Couscous

Method
1. Heat the oil in a wok until slightly smoking. Add the tagine paste and stir-fry for one minute until fragrant.

2. Add the chicken and stir-fry until the meat has turned white, ensuring it is well coated in the paste.

3. Add the pepper, chilli and spring onion and mix well.

4. Add the water, mix well and bring to the boil. Add the cornflour mixture and blend into the sauce. Turn the heat down and simmer until the sauce has reduced and thickened.

5. Meanwhile cook the couscous according to the packet instructions.

6. While the couscous is soaking, add the sultanas and almonds to the chicken mixture and stir.

7. When the couscous is ready, serve in a wide bowl (a pasta-type bowl is best) with the chicken mixture on top, accompanied with hot pitta bread.

Beginnings...

Welcome to cooking -Murf style!

Living on my own, it takes a degree of motivation to cook a meal from scratch for myself. The easy option is to pick up a ready meal on my way home from work but this can get boring after a while. Plus, I'm fussy! Being allergic to shellfish rules out a lot of meals, not liking mushrooms, courgettes, cauliflower or aubergine (amongst others) limits the choices even further. So I tend to make quick and easy dishes at home during the week.

This blog is all about food - the food I cook for myself and for friends, using recipes I have found in books, magazines or online. Many have been customised to suit my personal taste. I will be sharing these recipes, but also writing about my favourite ingredients, discussing healthy options, exploring regional cuisines, commenting on the latest food trends, highlighting seasonal products, looking at the politics of food production and more. If something food-related catches my attention then I will post something about it here.

My favourite meals are generally spicy... Indian, Thai, and Chinese recipes are regularly cooked in my kitchen. I love curries and stir-fries, rice and noodles, cardamom and ginger. There is something very creative about Asian cooking, especially when you make the curry pastes and spice blends from scratch. But there isn't always enough time to cook a proper curry, which is where ready-made pastes come in very handy, particularly for after-work meals.

One area I would like to develop is baking. I haven't made bread since domestic science classes in school, although I have baked a few cakes and brownies since then, it isn't a regular thing. Given I have a sweet tooth, it would make a lot of sense to bake at weekends instead of buying cakes and biscuits from the supermarket! And the smell of freshly baked bread is always delicious.

So, this blog will be a record of my cooking experiments, and of all food-related topics that interest me. I will label all recipes with the type of cuisine along with the main ingredients and cooking method which should allow easy searching. Comments will always be welcome, especially if you have tried some of the recipes yourself. I would love to know how you got on.