North American Motoring - Mike's Curry Chicken

I've been working on "my" recipe for about a year now and I think it is ready to share, hope you give it a try !

Ingredients:

Spices:

1/2 tsp Cumin seed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red chili powder "hot" (I'll tap in a bit more than 1/2)
1/2 tsp Paprika (same thing maybe a tap more)
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/8 tsp cumin powder (just a smidge really)
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp of ground cloves
3 Cardamom seeds
1/2 tsp Dried Cilantro leaves
~1/2 tsp garam masala (this is an add to taste)
salt & pepper (same, to taste)

The "goods"

3 good sized chicken breast
6 Roma tomatoes
Baseball sized onion (white or yellow)- chopped
4-5 large cloves of garlic - chopped
1.5" piece of Ginger - skinned and chopped
Handful of Coriander/Cilantro - chopped
1/2 jar of tandoori chicken marinade (I'll post the brand later)
(4) Green chili peppers - chop 3 and split and remove the seeds (unless you want it a bit hotter) on the 4th one.
4-5 tbsp plain Yogurt (low fat)
1 tbsp Tomato paste

The "bads"

2 tbsp Sunflower Oil (you may need a little more)
1.5 tsp ghee (mainly for flavor)

Ok, here we go :popcorn:

1- Cut the chicken breast in half so you have a total of six pieces. Pour the marinade over the chicken and put in the fridge for 30 minutes. Pre-heat oven at 400 degrees.
2- Pour the sunflower oil in a nice sized sauce pan
3 -heat on med-high and add cumin seed - allow them to sputter, you will smell them when there flavor is released into the oil. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool a bit
4- Add the onions and cook on medium for 20 minutes (onions should just start to brown and caramelize)
5- Add the chopped chili peppers, garlic and ginger, cook another 5 minutes
6- Put the chicken on a greased / pam cooking sheet and put into the oven for 30 minutes.
7- Add turmeric, paprika, chili powder, cloves, coriander powder, cumin powder, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, a bit of salt and pepper (~1/4 tsp) for both and continue to cook. Raise the heat to a medium high heat and stir, do not burn ! Add more oil or a little water if needed. Cook for about 10 minutes.
8- Cut up 4 tomatoes into chunks and add to the pan, continue cooking at a fairly high heat.
9- Once the tomatoes have fallen apart, add the tomato paste and cook for another 5 minutes, add a little water if its too think. Do not burn !
10- Remove from the stove and let cool a bit
11- Put the pan mixture into a blender and puree for a minute or two, things should be well chopped up, with the mixture still in the blender "jar" I put it in the freezer to cool until the chicken is just about done, about 10 minutes.
12- Remove from the freezer and put back on the blender base. Add the yogurt and dried Cilantro leaves and puree. Give it a taste here, should be real good at this point, add salt if needed.
13- Pour mixture back into your sauce pan and put on medium heat
14- Cut the 6 pieces of chicken into smaller cubes and add to the sauce pan.
15- Cut the remaining chili pepper in half and add to the curry.
16- Add the garam masala to your liking, usually 1/2 tsp works well.
17- Turn up the heat to high and get it bubbling - do not burn ! Just for about 30 seconds.
18- Turn the heat to low and cook for 30-40 minutes. I will add water as it cooks to keep the consistency. During this time, add the remaining tomatoes in chunks. The less time they cook the more tomato chunks you will have. Leona likes chunks so I put them in for about 12 minutes before serving.

There ! You now have curried chicken !

Put the curry in individual serving bowls, add some fresh Coriander on top. Serve with Basmati Rice (I cheat and use "Pataks" microwave rice) and some warm naan bread. Oh too good !

A good British Ale (Tetleys, Boddingtons, Bass) is a great compliment :thumbsup:
Better yet, a Mango lassi ! If you don't have that, believe it or not, a glass of OJ is nice too.

Give it a try !

Cheers !

Tandoor chef Mike

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