Curry Chicken

I think I was supposed to be posting more recipes this month, but someone how I missed the boat. I did spend some time perusing my Food & Wine Magazine a few weeks ago and came across two recipes that had me intrigued.  I’ve never cooked India food before – I mean other than the stuff in the box or jar. I figured that Food & Wine’s recipe was the best place to start.

Ingredients

4 potatoes, cubed and boiled

3 onions, coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves

One 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1 cup tomato sauce

Four chicken thighs

Salt

1 cup water (or less depending on how thick you want the sauce to be)

Directions

In a food processor, chop the onions. Add the garlic and ginger and process until they are finely chopped.

In a medium pot, heat the vegetable oil. Add the coriander, cumin, cayenne, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom and cook over low heat until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add the onion mixture and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is golden brown, about 6 minutes.

Add the turmeric and tomato sauce and simmer over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. 

Season the chicken thighs with salt and add them to the pot. Coat the chicken with the sauce. 

Add the water, cover and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes then simmer over low heat, turning a few times, until the chicken is white throughout, about 15 minutes. 

Season the chicken curry with salt and serve with basmati rice.

This was actually pretty good, but definitely not as spicy as I would have liked. Also, I added the full 1 cup of water and it was entirely too runny for my liking. I highly recommend modifying the recipe based on your preference for more spiciness.  The original recipe doesn’t call for potatoes, but I definitely felt like they belonged.  They added a certain level of heartiness to the curry which I definitely appreciated.  I heart home cooking. Hopefully I can step my Indian cooking game up.

Hungry yet?