Deep's Special Green Chicken Curry

Want to impress your friends with your fantastic culinary skills? Here’s one way to do it. Not quick, but simple, and with a little bit of acting, you can pass yourself off as a master-chef. Here’s what you need…

 

INGREDIENTS

Boneless chicken – 300 grams

FOR THE MARINADE

Ginger (roughly chopped) – one heaped teaspoon full

Garlic (roughly chopped) – one heaped teaspoon full

Plain yoghurt (non-sweetened) – 3 tablespoons

Green Chilli – 4 – 6

Coriander powder – 2 level teaspoons

Salt – 1 level teaspoon

PHORON

Coriander seeds – ½ teaspoon

Jeera seeds - ½ teaspoon

Whole black pepper - ½ teaspoon

Bay leaf – 1 large

FOR THE GRAVY

Coriander leaves (roughly chopped) – 2 cups full

White oil for cooking.

Water – half a cup at room temperature, and half a cup, warm.

 

METHOD

1.       Cut the chicken into bite size pieces.

2.       Put the ginger, garlic, green chilli, yoghurt, salt and coriander powder in a blender, and blend it into a smooth paste.

3.       Marinate (that’s just a fancy word for mix and let be) the chicken in the paste for at least half an hour.

4.       Put the two cups of coriander leaves in a blender, add half a cup of room temperature water, and blend into a smooth paste and set aside.

5.       Heat oil to smoking, and add the coriander and jeera seeds, whole black pepper and bay leaf.

6.       Now, without giving the phoron a chance to burn, add the chicken, marinade and all, and keeping the heat high, cook, stirring frequently, for five minutes or so.

7.       After five minutes, lower the heat, and cover and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally. The chicken will release a lot of water, and will cook slowly.

8.       Once the water has reduced, and the oil has separated from the gravy, stir half a cup of warm water into the coriander leaf paste, and pour it into the chicken.

9.       Raise the heat, stir and reduce the gravy to desired consistency, but don’t overdo it. This dish will have some gravy, and the freshness of coriander leaves is destroyed upon prolonged heating.

10.   The gravy should be done in about two minutes, take it off the flame immediately, and serve with steamed basmati rice.

 

Serves – 2 to 3 people

Preparation time – 30 minutes

Cooking time – 1 hour

 

NOTES

The potency of green chillies varies widely, so please be careful. I used the short stubby ones. If you get the giant ones, please use your intelligence.

Be careful not to allow the phoron to burn, it will make the dish taste bitter.

Adding warm water for gravy prevents the temperature of the dish from getting suddenly lowered, and is better for the taste of the dish.

As always, try it a few times, and you will get it right.