Headbanger’s Delight Chicken Curry

This dish was inspired by India’s only heavy metal chef, Sahil “Demonstealer” Makhija, and is my take on his Black Label Chicken Curry. You can check out the original recipe here…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7RyN6n8-RU

Both Sahil’s show and band, Demonic Resurrection, are very very cool, and I find his cookery show, Headbanger’s Kitchen to be tremendously inspiring.

Now, if you’re ready to cook with me, we shall begin by preparing the ingredients

INGREDIENTS

Boneless Chicken –350 grams (approx), cut into medium sized pieces.

FOR THE MARINADE

Plain yoghurt (non sweetened) – 150 grams

Ginger paste – 1 teaspoon

Garlic paste – 1 teaspoon

Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon

Garam Masala powder – 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon

Salt – 1 teaspoon

FOR THE PHORON

Whole cumin seeds – ½ teaspoon

Whole black pepper – 1 teaspoon

Bay leaf – 1 large

FOR THE GRAVY

Onion – 1 large, finely chopped

Tomato – 1 large, finely chopped

Green chillies – 2, medium sized, slit but not deseeded

FOR GARNISHING

Fresh Coriander leaves, finely chopped – a handfull

Oil for cooking

Salt

Hot water

METHOD

Blend together all the marinade ingredients into a smooth paste, mix well with raw chicken and set aside for atleast an hour. For best results, marinate overnight. Just mix the chicken and marinade, cover well, and leave in the refrigerator (not freezer)

Heat about 4 tablespoons of oil to smoking. I use rice bran oil. You can use any white oil, not olive oil. If you’re using ghee, do not heat it to smoking, just ensure it is hot enough so that the phoron ingredients sizzle.

Once oil is heated, add the phoron ingredients, give them a quick stir, and before anything has a chance to burn, add the onions.Phoron is also known as "chhok".

Add a spoon of salt, and fry onions till they just start turning brown. Don’t wait for them to completely turn brown though.

Now add the chopped tomato and green chillies and stir, lower heat to low, cover and let it cook for 5 minutes atleast.

Once the onions have sort of broken down, and begin to look kinda mushy, raise heat to high and add the chicken, marinade and all. Stir well for a couple of minutes, lower heat to low, cover and let it cook for about half an hour.

While the chicken is cooking, do remember to stir it at 5 or 10 minute intervals. We’re using a lot of masala paste, and those will have a tendency to stick to the bottom of the pan and get burnt if you aren’t careful.

While all this is happening, heat 2 cups of water to boiling and keep ready.

This process of cooking on a low flame, with the cover on, is called “kosha”, it gives a very rich flavor to the dish, and the sign that the process has been completed is that the oil separates at the sides. Once you see that happening, raise the heat, quickly add the water, stir thoroughly, and bring the curry to a boil.

Lower heat to medium, cover and allow the curry to cook for another 5 minutes.

Taste a spoon of gravy at this point, and make sure you added enough salt. Remember two things. One, if you added less salt, you can always add more later, but once you add too much, it’s difficult to correct. Two, the more you thicken a gravy, the saltier it gets, since it’s getting more and more concentrated.

Raise heat, and reduce gravy to desired consistency, add the chopped coriander, give it a quick stir, and take it off the flame.

Serve with steamed rice.

Serves 4

Prep time – 30 minutes

Cooking time – 45 minutes