CREAMY CHICKEN CURRY WITH VEGETABLES

Here’s a slightly spicy chicken and vegetable curry with a creamy gravy. This dish will taste especially nice in winter if you’re in India, because that’s when we get the best vegetables. As with most of the chicken curries I make, preparation takes more time and effort and the act of cooking in itself is fairly simple.

INGREDIENTS

1. Boneless chicken – 600 grams
2. Onions – 2 large
3. Garlic – 6 cloves
4. Ginger – 1 inch piece
5. Green chillies – 3 medium sized
6. Carrot – 1 medium sized
7. Baby corn – 6 medium sized
8. Button mushrooms – 6, large
9. Yoghurt (non-sweetened) – 100 grams
10. Whole black pepper – 1 teaspoon
11. Bay leaf – 1 large
12. Coriander powder – 1.5 teaspoons
13. Garam masala powder – 1 teaspoon
14. Corainder/Cilantro leaves – a handful, roughly chopped.
15. Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon
16. Salt
17. Sugar
18. Oil for cooking
19. Ghee/clarified butter (optional)
20. Hot water – 1.5 cups

METHOD

PREPARE THE CHICKEN

• Cut the chicken into medium sized pieces.
• Blend into a fine paste the yoghurt, one of the onions, green chillies, ginger, garlic, turmeric, garam masala, coriander powder, and two level teaspoons of salt. Pour this mixture over the chicken, mix well, and allow it to sit for atleast half an hour. The longer you marinate, the better it tastes.

PREPARE THE MUSHROOMS

• Quarter the mushrooms lengthwise, making sure to slice off the end of the stems, which are usually dry, black and hard.
• In a kadhai, add about two tablespoons of oil, turn heat to full and with a spatula, coat the entire kadhai with the oil.
• Once the oil is smoking hot, add the mushrooms, a teaspoon of salt, stir, reduce heat, and cover.
• The mushrooms will release a lot of water, and as the water boils off, they’ll turn a darker colour. Once all the water has dried, the mushrooms are done.
• As the water evaporates, remember to stir every once in a while or the ones at the bottom will get burnt.

PREPARE THE VEGETABLES

• While the chicken is marinating, and the musrooms are cooking, chop the other onion. Take the time to chop it really fine, as it will mix into the gravy and add to it’s creaminess.
• Cut the carrot into large cubes. I do it by slicing the carrot lengthwise, then slicing each slice lengthwise again, and finally slicing horizontally a couple of inches apart.
• Slice each baby corn in half lengthwise, then slice those halves into 2 inch long pieces.

COOKING

• In a kadhai, heat up 3 tablespoons of oil and 1 tablespoon of ghee/clarified butter. Once it has begun smoking (don’t wait for too long, or the kadhai will go brown and it will affect the taste), add the bay leaf and black peppercorns, give it a quick stir, and add the chopped onions.
• Add half a level teaspoon each of salt and sugar, and continue frying the onions on high heat till they begin to turn golden brown.
• Once the onions have started changing colour, add the chicken, marinade and all, and stir well for a couple of minutes.
• Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for around ten minutes.
• After ten minutes, open the lid and you will find the chicken has released a lot of water. Into this, add the baby corn, stir, cover and let the chicken continue cooking for another five minutes.
• After ten minutes, open the lid, and add the carrots. Once again, stir, and cover and let the chicken bubble away for another ten minutes.
• After ten minutes, add the mushrooms, stir, cover and continue to cook. Check back in another ten minutes or so.
• Once the water has almost disappeared, and the oil starts to separate at the sides, raise the heat, give the chicken a stir, add the hot water and bring to a boil.
• Boil the curry on medium heat if the vegetables are still not soft enough, with the lid on, and check every few minutes or so by poking the veggies with a spoon.
• Once the veggies have cooked through, raise the heat and reduce gravy to desired consistency, while stirring frequently.
• Once gravy has reached desired consistency, add the chopped cilantro, give it a quick stir, and take it off the flame.

Serve with hot steamed basmati rice.

NOTES

• The potency of green chillies varies widely, so please exercise caution.
• You can add broccoli or other vegetables if you want, but make sure to add only small quantities. Too much of vegetables will make the dish soppy and tasteless. Remember, this is primarily a chicken dish, with a few vegetables for flavor/texture.

Serves 4

Prep time – 1 hour
Cooking time – 1 hour