I love
curries as they are often naturally wheat and gluten free. For a cold summer’s day, this makes a lovely
homemade authentic chicken curry experience. This
is a very simple chicken curry recipe.
It really is one of the easiest chicken curry recipes out there, without
the compromise on taste.
I say
easy, because the only slight objection that you may have when preparing Sri
Lankan food is accessing the ingredients.
If you don’t live near an area that caters well for spices, then simply
head to Waitrose who stock a broad range of spices. Yes spices are pricier at Waitrose, but you
will leave the store with a more manageable amount of spices (instead of the bulky
bags of spices that you may end up purchasing from local Indian shops).
If you
struggle to find fresh curry leaves, I was ecstatic to find these in Tesco. They do make a world of difference to the final dish.
You can
also manipulate the ingredients so that this turns into a mild chicken curry
recipe. For example, you can skip the
cayenne pepper and choose ‘mild’ curry powder from your local supermarket.
When you give this recipe a go, you’ll soon appreciate that this is one of the easiest and
definitely the best chicken curry recipe. Who would ever complain about throwing a bunch of ingredients in to a pot with dinner served approximately 40 minutes later! And it’s full of flavour and spice without the bite.
This
definitely is my all time favourite curry recipe!
Ingredients
900g
chicken thigh or breast pieces
Marinade
6 large
garlic cloves, crushed
4 cardamom
pods, crushed
2
teaspoons curry powder
1 heaped
tablespoon tomato paste
½ teaspoon
garlic puree
½ teaspoon
lemon juice
1
tablespoon rapeseed oil
1 red
onion, sliced
3 garlic
cloves, crushed
¼ teaspoon
cloves
¼ teaspoon
mustard seeds
3 large
tomatoes, diced
¼ teaspoon
fenugreek seeds
½ teaspoon
ground cumin
½ teaspoon
fennel seeds
½ thumb
sized ginger, chopped
¼ teaspoon
tamarind paste
¼ teaspoon
of cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon
ground cinnamon
5 stalks
of curry leaves
150ml
coconut milk
Salt to
taste
Preparing the marinade
Trim all visible fat off the chicken
thighs. This is the only time consuming
aspect of the recipe. It's worth it to have a good go with a pair of kitchen scissors when you realise that nearly half the chicken is fat! In a bowl, add
chicken, crushed garlic, curry powder, tomato paste, garlic puree and the lemon
juice. Mix well. Allow to marinade for at least 30
minutes.
Methods
1. Add oil
to a large saucepan. Add sliced red
onions and fry for a couple of minutes. I
would add salt at this stage as onions absorb salt well.
2. Next
add in the crushed garlic, cloves, mustard seeds and tomatoes. Stir for a few seconds then add fenugreek seeds. Cook until the tomatoes create a paste like
texture.
3. Tip in
the chicken, stir well and add 1-2 cups of water (or enough water to completely
immerse the chicken). Cook on high for 5
minutes.
4. Add cumin
powder, fennel seeds, ginger, tamarind paste, cayenne pepper and cinnamon
powder.
5. Cover
and cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes.
6. Uncover
and add curry leaves.
7. Simmer
partly covered for a further 20 minutes or until the chicken is well cooked
through.
8. Stir in
the coconut milk and serve with rice and a salad.
I'd love more comments from you lovely readers, so you if you try this recipe out, then let me know your thoughts.
