Spice Mix Ingredients: turmeric, sugar, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, pepper, Szechwan pepper, chillies, cinnamon, star anise

Ingredients:

• 1 packet Auntie Ang’s Chinese curry mix (recipe card included!)

• 2tbsp oil

• 700g/1.5lb chicken, cut into strips, or prawns (large, shelled, raw)

• 300mls or ½ pint chicken stock (a cube is fine!)

• 150ml/1/4 pint 'secret sauce'

• 2 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 tbsp dry sherry or rice wine

• 250g/1/2lb potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces and cooked

Recipe:

1. Fry the spices in 1 tbsp vegetable oil until fragrant, then add the stock, 'secret sauce', soy sauce and rice wine/sherry. Bring to the boil then allow to simmer for at least an hour.

2. Add the potatoes to the sauce half an hour before serving to ensure they are cooked through.

3. 10-15 minutes before serving, add the prawns or chicken to the sauce to cook through.

4. Serve with boiled/steamed rice.

Cook's Notes:

• You can boil /steam the rice in thin coconut milk (once cooked discard the liquid) to give the rice a Malay flavour.

• A customer suggested adding bamboo shoots & mushrooms. Whilst not strictly authentic, this is delicious as they add texture without changing the flavour much. Also excellent with water chestnuts.

• This is delicious with beef. Fry the meat with the spices and use 300ml of ‘secret sauce’ instead of 150ml. Otherwise follow the recipe, but cook for 2-3 hours until very tender, adding the potatoes and any other ingredients for the last 20 minutes.

• Try our pork and chinese mushroom version of this curry here

• Try using the spice blend as a marinade for pork: blend the spices with 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp rice wine (or dry sherry). Spread over a pork loin and leave to marinate in an oven-proof dish for a few hours. Add 2 sliced peppers to the dish, nestled around the pork,and tightly cover with foil. Bake for about an hour, or until the pork is just cooked through, at about 180 degrees. Serve with juices over coconut rice.