This recipe has been part of my mum’s food repertoire for years, decades even. It’s one of those dishes that is made to feed an army of friends and family.
As friends gather for a week away in a beautiful house in the country somewhere, turning up sporadically throughout the day, they will be welcomed with the delicious, warming aroma of this Chicken Curry that has been whipped up and ready to reheat as needed.
I make it with a lovely amount of gravy that is just perfect to be mopped up with some freshly cooked flat bread. The chicken I use is the chicken cutlet, which is the thigh with the bone left in. After the chicken has cooked I just remove the bone and pull the chicken into large shredded chunks but you can use a whole chicken cut up or breast or thighs without the bone, it’s entirely up to you.
Ingredients
8 chicken cutlets (thighs with bone in)
3 onions, finely chopped
2 tsp brown mustard seeds
3 garlic cloves, minced
4cm pice of ginger, grated
1 sprig of fresh curry leaves (about 16 leaves)
Dry ingredients:
1 Tbs fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
3 tsp kashmiri chilli powder (omit for less heat – substitute with 2 tsp cayenne powder if you don’t have Kashmiri)
2 tsp cumin powder
2 Tbs coriander powder
3 Tbs sweet paprika
2 turkish bay leaves
Wet ingredients:
2 tsp tamarind puree
1 Tbs white vinegar
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 cup tomato passata (substitute with 200g canned diced tomatoes)
75g coconut cream (doesn’t need to be exact just use a small can)
2 cups chicken stock
Season with salt if needed
Rice or flat bread to serve
Method
Sauté the onions with enough ghee or oil to stop them sticking. Cook for 10 minutes on low. Make sure the pot is large enough to hold the entire recipe as it’s a one pot meal.
Add the mustard seeds and cook a further 3 minutes or till the seeds start popping.
Add the ginger, garlic and curry leaves. Cook a further 2 minutes.
Add all the rest of the dry ingredients and stir till fragrant, adding oil or ghee as you need to.
Add all the wet ingredients and bring to the boil.
Add in the chicken pieces and mix to ensure all the pieces are coated.
Cover and cook on low a gentle simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and leave to simmer away for a further 30 minutes or till the chicken if completely cooked and the gravy has reduced and thickened a little.
Depending on which chicken you have chosen to use, either remove the chicken from the bones leaving them in large shreds (my preferred version) or keep them them on the bones. If you have just used breast or thighs
Serve with some rice or with some steamed broccolini and flat bread.
Click here for Quick Indian Flat Bread recipe
- 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces (or whichever part you like to use)
- 3 onions, finely chopped
- 2 tsp brown mustard seeds
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 4cm pice of ginger, grated
- 1 sprig of fresh curry leaves (about 16 leaves)
- 1 Tbs fenugreek seeds
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 3 tsp kashmiri chilli powder (omit for less heat – substitute with 2 tsp cayenne powder if you don’t have Kashmiri)
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 2 Tbs coriander powder
- 3 Tbs sweet paprika
- 2 turkish bay leaves
- 2 tsp tamarind puree
- 1 Tbs white vinegar
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 1 cup tomato passata (substitute with 200g canned diced tomatoes)
- 75g coconut cream (doesn’t need to be exact just use a small can)
- 2 cups chicken stock
- Season with salt if needed
- Rice or flat bread to serve
- Sauté the onions with enough ghee or oil to stop them sticking. Cook for 10 minutes on low. Make sure the pot is large enough to hold the entire recipe as it’s a one pot meal.
- Add the mustard seeds and cook a further 3 minutes or till the seeds start popping.
- Add the ginger, garlic and curry leaves. Cook a further 2 minutes.
- Add all the rest of the dry ingredients and stir till fragrant, adding oil or ghee as you need to.
- Add all the wet ingredients and bring to the boil.
- Add in the chicken pieces and mix to ensure all the pieces are coated.
- Cover and cook on low a gentle simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and leave to simmer away for a further 30 minutes or till the chicken if completely cooked and the gravy has reduced and thickened a little.
- Serving suggestion is with some steamed broccolini and flat bread.