Barbara’s amazing chicken curry

 Barbara from Tigers & Strawberries is one of my favourite bloggers. Her writing is always inspirational and informative, her recipes creative and delicious. She is a trained chef, and food is both her calling and her passion. Please do check her fantastic blog!

Barbara makes this gorgeous chicken curry for her whole family to enjoy, including her adorable little babygirl (Kat in the title of the recipe). We loved it, too! It smelled and tasted absolutely amazing: I adored the masala, with its perfect balance of tastes – exceptional! I tweaked the curry a little to suit the tastes of two adults (by adding 5 green chilies), and changed the method slightly to make up for the lack of food processor/spice grinder (I used pestle and mortar only). I also fancied some black cardamom, so I added one, and it worked great! Here is my version, and below is the link to Barbara’s version.

I must admit I was a little skeptical about cooking onions in coconut cream, but I did try it, and it worked great. The onions turned out lovely and mellow, and I loved the cassia in it. I did have to add some ghee to fry the chicken, though, but it worked great!

This curry is fairly quick to make, with a bit of organisation. This is how I do it: 1. cut the onions and put all the whole spices together; 2. roast the spices; 3. fry the onions in coconut; 4. chop ginger, garlic and chicken; 5. add garlic and ginger to onions; 6. pound the whole spices; 7. add them to onions; 8. add chicken and fry, etc; 9. boil rice while the chicken is cooking.

________________________________________________________________

  

Kat’s Chicken Curry

 

SOURCE: Adapted from Barbara’s recipe

PREPARATION TIME: 5 min

COOKING TIME: 30 – 40 min

CUISINE: Indian-style

SERVES: 2 – 3

 

Ingredients:

1 can coconut milk

1 big thinly sliced yellow onion
salt to taste
5 cm cassia stick
2.5 cm cube fresh ginger, peeled and minced
4 large cloves fresh garlic, minced

5 green finger chilies

1 tbsp ghee

4 whole cloves
1 black cardamom pod

5 green cardamom pods
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2″ cubes
salt to taste
1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped

 

Method:

1. Put the whole spices in a hot pan and roast until fragrant. Take them out of the pan and put in the mortar.

2. Scrape about 4 tablespoons of coconut cream off the top of the can of coconut milk. Melt it in a heavy-bottomed deep pan over medium heat. Add onion slices, and sprinkle with salt. Add cassia stick, and cook, stirring continually until the onions are medium brown.

3. Add the ghee, chilies, ginger and garlic and keep cooking, stirring, until the onions are dark reddish brown and fragrant. Meanwhile, pound the spices as finely as you can. Use a spice grinder if you have one.

4. Add the pounded spices, paprika, cayenne and turmeric to the onions and fry for 30 seconds.

5. Add the chicken pieces and stir. When they are half cooked and half still pink, add the rest of the coconut milk and stir well. Turn the heat down and simmer until the chicken is completely cooked through.

Add salt to taste, and stir in coriander leaves just before serving.

 

Verdict

Delicious! Do make this gorgeous dish!

It is extremely flavourful, with a strong tinge of cardamom (I would even call this Cardamom Chicken!). It has a gorgeous yellow colour from the turmeric, and a wonderful smell and flavour from the cassia bark. I love pretty much anything with coconut, so this is a clear winner for me! If you like coconut, it will be a winner for you, too!

 

_____________________________________________________

Technorati Tags: recipes, food blog, indian food, chicken curry, chicken recipes, world cuisines, tigers and strawberries, blogtasting

Posted by Maninas on 11 December, 2007

https://maninas.wordpress.com/2007/12/11/barbaras-amazing-chicken-curry/