Whenever I don’t know what to cook for supper, the thing that comes to mind is chicken curry – one of my boyfriend’s favourites. He will set aside any top chef’s dish and opt for the curry, no matter how you try to convince him otherwise.

On this particular night my sister (an avid stew lover) smiles at my supper idea. This instantly gives me confidence, as I am usually the one who loves ‘quick-fix’ cooking.

So I start plunging into our cupboard, which is stocked with my a combination of curry ingredients and spices – such as turmeric, cardamom pips, leaf masala and bay leaves – to get my cooking journey started. Once the aroma starts to fill the air, I realise that maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Chicken is not time-consuming and it’s one of my quick favourites, so I know exactly how to manoeuvre it.

Admittedly I was never tempted to cook curry when I was younger, but after my very first attempt quite some time ago, we now enjoy it at least twice a month. I even ended up gathering curry recipes from family and friends, and now I have one specific recipe that I call my own.

By Alicia Erasmus
Photograph: srqpix