Indian Chicken Curry

This is probably one of my favourite dishes in the world.  OK, sorry for the hyperbole, but I’m being serious.  This dish is pure comfort, without being high-calorie or unhealthy.  It is full of flavour, tastes better (!!) as leftovers and appears on our table quite often.

This again is a spice combination from Daksha’s Gourmet Spices. Visit my eggplant & potato curry post for more about the spices I prefer and about my love of Indian cooking!

Although this recipe looks long and complicated, it really isn’t. It’s a great one-pot dish that you can leave to simmer while you clean the house, watch Food Network, or “pretend” you are writing a French paper (not that I am guilty of that!).

This pairs beautifully with rice, naan and some raita.  It is also one of my favourite chicken dishes to serve for company (but I always ask if they like curries/spices beforehand as they are an acquired taste!).

We also recently rediscovered parathas.  They are similar to a naan bread and are incredibly delicious.  They come frozen and you simply heat a frying pan, place one of these frozen paratha’s in the pan, flip a few times and you are given this deliciously crispy, but soft naan bread type thing.  Our new favourite thing is to make wraps using these and the leftover curry – makes a great lunch!  In fact, we are fighting over who gets the last one tomorrow (I’m planning my sabotage!)  Ps – we found these in the frozen section of United Grocers (it is similar to T&T – which is an Asian grocer who carries a lot of hard to find items).  We also found them in Vancouver at Superstore! The rediscovery is because we’ve gone years without them, they are hard to find!

I hope this recipe makes its way to your table soon!  It’s a great introduction to curry if you are apprehensive.  It is not overly spicy and the flavours are quite welcoming!

Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

Marinade:

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 2 tsp grated garlic
• 1 tsp grated green jalapeño
• 3 tsp garam masala
• 3 tsp thana jeeroo
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 lbs of chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces *

* For the chicken, I use a mixture of boneless, skinless thighs and breasts, about 1.5lbs of each

Sauce – Part 1:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cassia sticks (cinnamon sticks)
• 2 cardamoms
• 2 cloves
• 4 black peppercorns
• 3 medium onions, diced
• 1 cup of water
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1.5 cups of plain tomato sauce

Garnish:

• 2 tbsp cilantro

Directions – Marinade:

In a large glass or metal bowl, make a paste by mixing 3 tbsp of olive oil with the ginger, garlic, jalapeño, garam masala, thana jeeroo, red chili powder, turmeric powder and salt.

Add chicken pieces to the paste and mix very well, ensuring that each piece of chicken is coated with marinade.  Cover and marinade in fridge for 2hrs.

Directions – Sauce:

In a large dutch oven, heat remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil for one minute over medium heat.  Add the cassia sticks, cardamoms, cloves and black peppercorns.  Allow spices to infuse the oil for 2–3 minutes.  Add the chopped onions to the oil mixture and sauté until translucent (about 10 minutes).  A bit of color on the onions is fine.  At this point, remove the cassia sticks, cardamoms, cloves and peppercorns (you will have to fish them out!).

Add the marinated chicken and stir well.  Cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Be careful not to have the heat too high, as your chicken will stick.

After 20 minutes, add 1 cup of water to the chicken.  Give a good stir and scrape any bits of flavour off the bottom of your pan.  After a minute or so, add tomato sauce and diced tomato to the chicken curry.

Cover again, lower heat to a simmer and cook for an additional 20 – 30 minutes.  The curry sauce will be nice and thick and the chicken should be cooked thoroughly (be sure to check!).

Garnish with cilantro and serve with basmati rice, naan, roti or paratha.

Enjoy!

Adapted from Daksha’s Gourmet Spices