Another Chicken Curry Recipe

Yes, this is yet another chicken curry recipe and that’s why the title remains. More often than not, many recipes have the same ingredients and methods of cooking. But every once in a while you can change a couple of things and turn it into a new dish. I was binge watching Chef John’s Food Wishes channel on YouTube because there is hardly anything more entertaining than when food and humour come together. Anyway, in one of his Indian recipes he grinds the onion and tomatoes together before adding it to his dish. The norm is to grind them to pastes and purees separately and then go about your business. This method was different.

I picked this up from his vindaloo pork recipe and tried it in my regular Sunday chicken curry. Saved me a few steps and the whole thing tasted bloody good. I did one good and ground garlic, ginger and chillies with the onion tomato mixture. The only part I wasn’t sure of was the colour. Since we grind them all together I figured the curry would be quite light. As it turns out, not. It was a deep and bright coloured curry that tasted fantastic. Go ahead and give it a shot this week!

Ingredients:

Chicken – 700 gm on the bone (I used whole legs, each cut into 3 pieces)

Onion – 1 medium chopped

Ghee/oil/butter – 1 tbsp

Ginger – 2 tsp finely chopped

Garlic – 3 cloves finely chopped

Cinnamon stick – 1 inch piece

Garam masala, chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder – 1 tsp each

Turmeric – 1/2 tsp

Coriander leaves – handful chopped, along with stems + some for garnish

Salt to taste

(I also added a tsp of leftover chilli paste. You may adjust the heat with the chilli powder too)

Marinade:

Yoghurt – 1/4 cup

Garam masala – 1 tsp

Cumin powder – 1 tsp

Coriander powder – 1 tsp

Chilli powder – 1-2 tsp

Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

For the ground mixture:

Onions – 3 roughly chopped

Tomatoes – 3 roughly chopped

Garlic – 3 cloves

Ginger – 1 inch piece

Green chilli – 1

Method:

Mix all ingredients for the marinade and let the chicken sit in it covered overnight or at least for 4 hours.

When you’re ready to get started, roughly chop the ingredients to be ground together and place in your blender.

Blitz till everything is blended well and you have a puree of sorts. Keep aside.

Using a mortar and pestle, pound the coriander leaves and its stems till you have a rough paste. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, run the leaves in your blender for a minute or so.

Now heat the ghee or oil in a pressure cooker or a deep and wide pan if you’re slow cooking.

Add the cinnamon and let it get fragrant before you add the chopped onions.

At this point I turned the heat to medium and moved on to bringing my chicken out of the fridge and cleaning up my counter, giving the onions a stir here and there. This was enough time for it to turn dark in colour. Not exactly burnt but really well caramelized. This really helps with the final product.

Now tip the ginger and garlic in. Mix well.

Stir in the pounded coriander leaves.

In goes the ground mixture along with the spice powders, turmeric and salt.

Drop the chicken in along with any leftover marinade. Mix well.

Bring it to a boil. If you’re using a pressure cooker, put the lid on and let two whistles out on high heat. Then lower the heat and cook for 15 mins. For slow cooking, cover with a lid and let it cook for 25-30 mins or till it’s cooked.

Check for salt and then garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve with rice or roti. So much better with roti though.