Ingredients
- 600g boneless chicken breast fillets, cubed
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 125ml cooking oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
- 1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh root ginger
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon water
- 400ml passata/ 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 250ml natural yogurt
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 125ml water
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Sprinkle the chicken breasts with 2 teaspoons salt.
- Heat oil in a large frying pan over high heat; partially cook the chicken in the hot oil in batches until completely browned. Transfer the browned chicken to a plate and set aside.
- Reduce the heat under the frying pan to medium-high; add the onion, garlic, and ginger to the oil remaining in the frying pan and cook and stir until the onion turns translucent, about 8 minutes.
- Stir the curry powder, cumin, turmeric, coriander, cayenne and 1 tablespoon of water into the onion mixture; allow to heat together for about 1 minute while stirring.
- Mix the passata, yogurt, 1 tablespoon chopped coriander and 1 teaspoon salt into the mixture.
- Return the chicken breast to the frying pan along with any juices on the plate. Add a large splash of water to the mixture; bring to the boil, turning the chicken to coat with the sauce. Sprinkle the garam masala and 1 tablespoon coriander over the chicken.
- Cover the frying pan and turn down to a simmer for at least 20 minutes.
- Sprinkle with lemon juice and some chopped coriander to serve and serve with rice
Method
So I had some chicken breasts in the fridge, but what to do. Although chicken has become pretty ubiquitous as a source of protein, actually it can be fairly bland and uninteresting in a meal, and the number of meals in your repertoire tht uses it successfully is probably pretty limited. Most interesting chicken dishes use thighs, legs or the whole bird to provide some depth of flavour. I end up doing fajitas, a jambalaya type thing or breaded chicken on a routine basis. Perhaps that is because I am too limited in my reading and of course this is a winter based gripe - in summer they can be marinated and thrown on the barbecue to impart flavour and give the basis for many interesting salads to be consumed.
So i fancied a curry type of thing, but wanted a change from the usual creamy chicken curry or thai green curry. I googled around and came acros this recipe which looked interesting and, more important, I had all the ingredients to hand, So decided to give it a go
It was interesting to me as it has a tomato base which makes the flavour deeper, but leavened with yogurt which adds creaminess but without muting the sour note of the tomatoes. So a bit of flavour was in prospect.
The original recipe had a full teaspoon of cayenne in it, but I decided to tone it down as the Youngest is not into thing too spicy. Actually with half a teaspoon it was spicy but not hot and well liked by all. If you like it spicier feel free to turn the cayenne back up. Additionally, as this was originally a US recipe, the portion sizes tend to be large. I used 4 chickn breasts to feed four of us and had enough left overs to feed someone else. I kept the sauce quantities about the same though even though I had 1/3 less chicken and that was fine - the rice soaks up the flavour. If you serve with rice that is.....
So a success, which I would do again. Interestingly the ingredients have spices and curry powder. I used a medium madras.