Variation on a Korma

Rummaging through my cupboards, I came across a sachet of Schwartz Korma. These sachets are always handy to have in the kitchen for a quick meal. I had two chicken breasts in the fridge, and quite a bit of vegetables, so decided to bulk up the curry with veggies. Hence the variation on a Korma.
Curry purists would most likely throw rotten eggs at me. But in my defence, it was actually a very tasty meal, so don't scorn it.

Chicken Korma
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, about 250g
2tbsp+ olive oil
1/2 red onion
1 carrot
1 sweet pepper
1 courgette
a handful of raisins
50g cashews
1 sachet of Korma sauce
300ml milk
1tbsp dessicated coconut (optional)
sea salt

As you know, Korma is a creamy and mildly-spiced dish, made with coconut, cardamom and cumin. Looking at the list of ingredients on Schwartz Korma mix, it includes sugar, onion powder, salt, cumin, garlic powder, ground coriander seed, chilli powder, ground ginger, cream powder, coconut milk powder, ground cinnamon, cardamom, paprika, turmeric etc.
I started with the recipe suggested on the packet, then proceeded adding more veggies.
Finely chop the onion and carrot and fry with the olive oil for over 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove the onion and carrot from the frying pan. Put the cubed chicken in the frying pan with a little bit more of the olive oil. Fry for 5 minutes, then add the sliced sweet pepper and courgette. Open the sauce mix and empty the contents over the chicken and vegetables, stir until everything is well coated in the powdered sauce. Add the milk and mix well. Cook for 15 + minutes, stirring occasionally on low. Add a handful of raisins and cashews, if using. You can use flaked or ground almonds instead of cashews. Add the coconut and season well with the sea salt.

You can use single cream instead of semi-skimmed milk in the recipe, but the milk keeps the sauce lighter, and it is creamy as it is.
Serve with basmati rice.

As I have finished a semi-forgotten bag of cashews and used some of raisins (I have what feels like one hundred pouches of dried fruit in various stages of their life, these ones were from the recently expired variety but still perfectly edible), I'm adding this recipe to the #KitchenClearout Linky run by Cheryl from Madhouse Family Reviews.