Course: Side dish

Cuisine: Indian

Cooking time: 40 mins

Serves: 5-6
INGREDIENTS

1. Whole chicken(skinless with bone cut in small pieces)- 1 1/2 lb
2. Large Potato(cubed) -1
3. Red Onion(finely sliced)- 1/2
4. Shallots(roughly sliced and some left as pearls)-15-20
5. Medium sized Tomato(chopped)-1
6. Ginger and Garlic paste/ 2 Frozen Ginger garlic cubes-2 tsp
7. Mustard seeds-2 tsp.
8. Cumin seeds-1 tsp.
9. Fresh ground Garam Masala/ Indian all spice- 2 tsp.
10. Red chili powder- 1/2 tbsp.
11. Kashmiri Red Chili powder- 1 1/2 tbsp.
12. Coriander powder- 1 tbsp.
13. Salt- 2 tsp or as per taste
14. Black pepper powder-1 tsp
15. Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
16. Fresh squeezed Lemon juice- 1 tbsp.
17. Chopped Cilantro-1/4 cup
18. Curry leaves- 2 sprigs
19. Coconut cream/Heavy cream-1/4 cup
20. Coconut oil-2 -3 tbsp.

DIRECTION

• Marinate the cleaned chicken pieces for about 15 minutes in 1 tsp. each turmeric, salt, black pepper powder, Kashmiri chili powder, and lemon juice.
• In a large heavy bottom non stick pan, heat the oil on medium heat and once the oil is hot, throw the mustard seeds, cumins seeds, curry leaves.
• If you are using frozen ginger- garlic cubes, reduce the oil for cooking accordingly.
• When the seeds and curry leaves starts spluttering, add the ginger garlic paste and cook until the raw smell goes.
• Now add the shallots, onion slices and chopped tomatoes along with 1 tsp salt and turmeric. Saute until the onions are transparent and tomatoes are cooked.
• Prepare curry spice paste-Meanwhile in a small mug, mix all the spices except the Garam Masala with 2 tbsp. water to make a thick red paste.
• Add the curry paste into the sautéed onion and tomatoes and stir well. Cook on medium heat until the raw smell of the spices leaves the masala.
• Pour a cup of hot water into the masala and let the onion and tomato masala cook on low heat, covered for about 3 minutes.
• After 3 mins, add the marinated chicken pieces into the masala and stir well until all the chicken pieces are coated in the curry masala.
• Sprinkle a tbsp. of Garam Masala powder and cook the chicken covered, for about 20 minutes.
• Now add the potato cubes into the curry and continue cooking covered for another 15 minutes until the meat is soft and tender and all the flavors from the chicken are infused into the gravy.
• Keep the heat on low and stir in the coconut cream/ heavy cream into the curry according to your desired spice level.
• Now you will have a rich red colored chicken curry.
• After 5 minutes turn off the heat, sprinkle a dash of Garam masala and chopped cilantro and let curry sit in the pan covered for another 15 mins before serving.
• Tip# Do not over mix the gravy once the potatoes are cooked, to prevent them from getting mashed or crumbled(which can result in an extra thick and mushy gravy).
• Tip# Adding cream is the trick to tone down the spice level and make the gravy rich
• How to make GARAM MASALA powder/Indian All spice mix– In a non stick pan, dry roast, 1 tsp. cardamom pods, cloves, black pepper corns, cumin seeds, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 star anises,1/4 tsp nutmeg powder and 1 dried bay leaf on medium low heat for about 3 minutes or until the oils release from the spices. Make sure you don’t burn the spices so turn off the heat after 2 mins or so and transfer the spices in to a small plate to cool down. Once cooled, grind them in a blender to a fine powder. Immediately store the spice mix in an air tight container to preserve the flavors. Use as the recipe calls for and store the remaining for later use.