Chicken Curry

This is a very easy recipe to make, scales really well, and can be adjusted for almost any meat or vegetable.  I like it really saucy.



Ingredients - for 2-3 people

1 large onion sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 thumbsized piece of ginger, minced
1 or 2 tablespoons of the garam masala (recipe below)
2 cans whole peeled tomatoes
1 can coconut cream
3-4 chicken thighs - boned is optional.

Method

In a large frypan, saute the onion in 3 or 4 tablespoons of neutral oil over a medium heat until starting to soften.  Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a few more minutes until the garlic has started to cook through.

Add the garam masala and cook for a minute until fragrant.  Add in the tomatoes and roughly break up with the back of the spoon.  Allow to come back to the simmer and cook for around 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat and add into a blender and process to a paste.  Careful of hot liquid spraying everywhere.  Try to make sure everything is blended down properly.

Return to the frypan and bring back to a simmer.  Add the coconut milk and heat through.  At this point you can put the sauce in a fridge for a couple of days.  I like to slash the chicken thighs and place in the cooled down sauce and marinate in the fridge.

To cook, bring an oven to 200 degC using the fan grill function and cook for about 90 minutes, or until the top of the sauce has started to char up.

Serve over the scented pilaf.

For the Garam Masala

1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon black peppercorn
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon cardamon seeds, remove from the pods
2 medium dried bay leaves
2 dried cayenne chiles *optional
1 cinnamon stick broken up into smaller pieces

Grind to a fine powder, store in an airtight container.