Pheasant Breast and Spinach Curry

 

Pheasant and spinach curry with rice

Pheasant breasts are similar in many ways to chicken breasts. This means that they can be very successfully substituted into most recipes where chicken would normally be the principal ingredient. This simple recipe sees them combined with that regular curry staple, spinach, to form a medium hot and incredibly tasty dish which can be enjoyed with rice, flatbreads or even a baked potato.

As pheasant is a seasonal bird in the UK and can only legally be shot between 1st October and 1st February each year, it should be noted that the breasts used in this recipe were taken from birds that were shot in season and cleaned, before their meat was frozen and subsequently defrosted overnight in the fridge.

Cook Time

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 1 hour

Ready in: 1 hour 15 min

Yields: 4 to 6 servings

Chopped peppers, onion and garlic

Ingredients

• 6 skinless pheasant breast fillets, chopped into 3/4-inch/2cm chunks
• 3 bell peppers (green, yellow and red), seeded and sliced
• 1 white onion, peeled and sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 6 birds' eye chillies (3 red, 3 green), finely sliced
• 3 tablespoons vegetable or sunflower oil
• 3 teaspoons hot curry powder (or as desired to taste)
• 4 14 ounce/400g cans chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 1 pound/450g baby spinach leaves
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped coriander leaf/cilantro, plus extra for rice and to garnish
• 3 ounces/80g basmati rice per person
• Ground turmeric
  

Browning pheasant breast pieces in oil

Method

Pour the oil into a large soup or stock pot and bring it up to a medium to high heat. Add the pheasant only and saute for a couple of minutes until just sealed, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Remove the pheasant from the pot to a holding plate with a slotted spoon, being sure to leave as much oil in the pot as possible.

Sauteing peppers and onion

Add the onion, garlic and curry powder to the hot oil and saute for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the onion strands are softened. Add the peppers and chillies and cook in the same way for a further few minutes until the peppers are just starting to soften.

Pour the canned tomatoes into the pot and season with salt and black pepper. Stir carefully but very well and bring to a gentle simmer.

Pheasant pieces are added to prepared sauce

Return the browned pheasant breast pieces to the pot and carefully stir through. Bring back to a simmer for a total of 20 minutes, stirring frequently and well.

When the curry has been simmering for about 10 minutes, bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Wash the required amount of rice in a sieve before adding it to the water. Stir well. Bring back to a simmer for 10 minutes (or per the instructions on the pack).

Spinach is added to pheasant curry

It is likely that you will have to add the spinach in 2 or 3 stages. Simply add a few handfuls and carefully stir fold through. It will fairly quickly wilt and allow you room in the pot to add more. When it is all added, stir very well and simmer for 5 final minutes.

Drain the rice carefully through a sieve, return to the pot and stir well again. Leave to steam off and dry out for a few minutes while you add the coriander to the curry and carefully stir it through. Turn off the heat.

Season the rice with some ground turmeric and black pepper and stir well with a metal spoon (a wooden spoon is more likely to cause rice to stick together) before adding some chopped coriander. Stir again.

Turmeric and coriander rice

Spoon the rice into deep serving plates and the curry on top. Garnish with the last of the chopped coriander before serving.