This week is national curry week and we have been celebrating by making lots of curry. Over the course of the next five days, we are going to be sharing our favourite curry recipes that are both delicious and easy to make at home…
We start with a Butter Chicken recipe taken from the Dalit Spice Cook Book. To find out more about Dalit and all the good work they do, simply click here.
Ingredients
1 kg free range boneless chicken (I used a mixture of cuts and breast meat)
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsps coriander powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 cup of fresh yogurt (I used 1 small pot of Yeo Valley Natural Yogurt)
Juice of 1 lime6 cloves
8-10 pepper corns
1-inch stick of cinnamon
8-10 almonds
2 bay leaves
Seeds from 3-4 cardamom pods
2 tbsps fenugreek powder
2 chopped onions
2 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
1 can of tinned tomatoes
3 tbsps vegetable/sunflower oil
½ litre chicken stock
3 tbsps butter
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves to garnish
This does seem like a lot of ingredients but it is really worth it!
Method
- Place all of the chicken in the bowl
- Add the chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, yogurt and lime juice and mix them well.
- Take the rest of the spices and fry them in a dry pan (no oil) until golden brown. Powder them in a pestle and mortar and add them to the chicken marinade.
- Place marinating chicken in the fridge and leave for a least an hour.
- Heat a the oil in a large pan and then drop in the sliced onions. Fry them until they turn golden brown.
- Add the ginger and garlic paste followed by the chicken.
- Fry them for about five minutes and then add the tomatoes.
- Pour in the chicken stock a little at a time and keep stirring to create your gravy.
- Add the rest of the marinade and salt to taste.
- Simmer until the chicken in cooked through and tender
- Melt the butter in a separate pan and then add to the gravy.
- Finally serve and garnish with a little chopped coriander.
To go with this delicious curry I cooked basmati rice with 2 tsps of curry powder in the water and then added some chopped and cooked vegetables.
Although this does seem like a lot of ingredients, it is really easy and doesn’t take too long to make, and it tastes amazing!
