chicken curry

I enjoy Indian food and other cuisines of south central Asia. Among my favorites is chicken curry. Here's the recipe I use.

First, the curry power is important. Most commercially blended curry powders are pretty good, especially if you get one from a specialty place such as Penzey's Spices. Nonetheless, nothing beats home-blended curry. Here's a traditional Indian recipe:

curry powder
1/3 cup coriander seed
5-6 white peppercorns
2 whole cloves
2 1/2 tablespoons cumin seed
1 tablespoon fennel seed
5-6 small dried chilies
6 cardamon pods
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Toast the first three spices in a pan until aromatic. Set aside in a dish. Toast next four ingredients, again until aromatic and chilies begin to brown. Place all of these in a spice grinder (or use mortar and pestle) and grind until fine. Toast the last three ingredients quickly and add to ground mixture. Curry mixture can be stored in an airtight glass spice jar.

chicken curry
8 cloves garlic
1 3/4 cups roughly chopped shallots
1/4 cup curry powder
10 thin sliced fresh ginger

Puree the above ingredients with 3 tablespoons of water. Saute in oil or ghee (4-5 tablespoons) until fragrant. Add approximately 3/4 pound of chicken cut into 1 inch pieced. Saute until browned.

Dice 1 1/2 - 2 pounds of potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces. These can be sprayed with cooking spray and browned in a 400F oven until tender.

Add 1/2 coconut milk (or plain yogurt) to chicken and curry mixture. Lower heat and simmer. Add browned potatoes. Season with sugar (no more than 2 teaspoons), salt, and additional curry to taste. Add water if necessary to make and thin sufficient sauce.

Serve over basmati rice with cilantro sprigs.