Three hours at the hairdresser and I was ready for the big hen night. We picked wine, cocktails and a two-course meal served alongside Burlesque, vintage parlour humour and retro nudity.

Now provocative, champagne-soaked dancing I can handle. Husky rendition of Fever I can enjoy. But was it really necessary to expose dimply bottoms and orange peel thighs in the middle of my dinner?

I focused on the thigh on my plate.

Chicken has been having its own issues lately. Since the revered Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall started his campaign to raise the plight of the ill treated, factory-farmed birds, I have been spurred into action.

Gone are the days of BOGOF packs of chicken thighs and drumsticks. I now stick to the free-range variety at the very least and organic if I haven’t blown my salary on alcohol and cabaret shows.

Thankfully, chicken thighs and drumsticks are cheaper than breast meat and infinitely more tasty in a curry. So give a chicken a chance with this herbed, light and fresh Hariyali Murgh recipe. I used Waitrose organic free range chicken and it rocked.

This is my entry to A Merrier World’s fantastic effort to raise awareness of the chicken we eat.

Feeds 4:

• 6 chicken thighs and drumsticks, skinned
• 2 tbsp of fresh ginger garlic paste
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 3 salad onions
• 90gm fresh spinach
• 20gm fresh coriander
• 20gm fresh mint
• 1 green finger chilli
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 tbsp oil
• Salt to taste

Chop up the full length of the salad onions. Bring a large pot to heat over a high flame with the oil.

When it starts sizzling, throw in the salad onions and the ginger garlic. Stir it for about a minute until the ginger and garlic goes pale golden brown.

Now add in the chicken pieces and the coriander and cumin powders and brown for about five minutes, turning over from time to time.

In the meantime, wash and cook the spinach covered for about three minutes in a microwave. Take the mint of the hard stalks and cut the thick ends of the stalks off the coriander.

In a blender, puree the cooked spinach with the mint, coriander, lemon juice and green chilli. Pour this fresh green sauce onto the chicken, lower the flame to a medium and cook covered for half an hour until the chicken is cooked.

You may need to add half a cup of water to help the chicken cook. When the chicken separates from the bone and the curry is mist but not watery, serve with some steaming hot Basmati rice and a content smile.