Ingredients

• 8 bone-in chicken thighs
• skinned
• or a jointed chicken
• skinned
• 4 spring onions
• roughly chopped
• 4 garlic cloves
• roughly chopped
• 20g/¾oz piece root ginger
• roughly chopped
• 2 scotch bonnet chillies (or according to taste)
• seeds removed
• finely chopped
• 1 lime
• zest and juice
• 2 tbsp medium curry powder blend
• preferably Caribbean
• ½ tsp ground allspice
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp vegetable or coconut oil
• 1 onion
• thickly sliced
• 300ml/10fl oz chicken stock or water
• 2 tomatoes
• peeled and diced
• 2 large sprigs thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 400g/14oz pumpkin
• cut into large chunks
• ½ lime
• juice only
• 1 tsp rum (optional)
• steamed rice
• sliced spring onions
• chopped fresh parsley or coriander

Directions

• Put the chicken thighs in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
• Put all the marinade ingredients into a small food processor and blend to a paste – add a little water if needed.
• Pour the marinade over the chicken and mix thoroughly to make sure the chicken is completely covered. Cover and leave for as long as you can – at least a couple of hours
• but overnight is better. If you are leaving it out for longer than an hour
• put the chicken in the fridge.
• For the curry
• heat the vegetable or coconut oil in a large casserole. Add the onion and cook on a medium heat for several minutes until starting to turn golden brown. Add the chicken and the marinade to the casserole – the idea is not to brown the chicken
• but do give the marinade ingredients a couple of minutes to cook before adding the stock or water.
• Add the tomatoes
• thyme and bay leaves and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil
• then turn the heat down
• cover
• and leave to simmer for around 40 minutes.
• Add the pumpkin and cook for a further 10 minutes
• covered. Pour in the lime juice and the rum
• if using. Remove the lid and cook for another 5-10 minutes to reduce the sauce slightly and finish off cooking the pumpkin.
• Serve with steamed rice and topped with sliced spring onions and fresh parsley or coriander.