Monday, July 21, 2008

Quick Indian Chicken Curry

snabb-indiskgryta

I love Indian food, but I don't cook it myself much. It just seems so complicated, and I barely know where to begin... however, I got a huge book from Workman Publishing, titled "660 Curries". 660?? Really? You're joking? No. I'm not. The book is huge. It's thicker than a bible. And to tell you the truth, it's more than a little bit overwhelming. It's not exactly like you can cook your way through it. (At least I don't want to undertake something that enormous of a task!) So, where to begin..? I paged through it quite randomly until I happened upon this recipe (which is slightly adapted, as always) for a fast and easy creamy chicken curry. It sounded good. And it was good. Really, really good.

For anyone who loves to cook Indian food - get the book. If you just love to eat it? Well, at least try this curry. And a helpful tip: count the amount of cloves and cardamom pods that you add in, so that you can fish them back out before serving. Biting into a whole clove is not extremely pleasant, in my opinion...

Quick Indian Chicken Curry
Serves 4

2 tbsp neutral oil
10 whole cloves
10 whole cardamom pods
2 bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks
4 garlic cloves, minced
fresh ginger, a thumbsized piece, finely minced
2 tomatoes, coarsely diced
3 tsp garam masala
2 tsp flaky sea salt
150-200 ml water
900 g chicken thighs or breasts, no skin or bones, bite-sized
100 ml cream
fresh coriander
toasted cashew nuts

Heat the oil in a large pan, and fry cloves, cardamom, bay leaves and cinnamon for a few seconds, until they start to release their aromas. Add ginger and garlic, and fry, constantly stirring, for a minute. Add the tomatoes, and stir well.

Add garam masala, salt and water, and then the chicken. Bring everything to a boil, and cover with a lid. Lower the heat to medium, and cook for about 15 minutes or until the chicken is done. Fish out the whole spices you used at the beginning. Add the cream. Serve with rice, fresh coriander and toasted cashews.

Recipe in Swedish:
Snabb indisk kycklinggryta

7 comments:

Susan @ My Wholefood Family Essentials said...

That looks delicious! My husband and I love Indian (both to cook and eat) and but our usual recipes are the sort that require freshly ground spices and are left to marinate overnight. So of course we don't make them very often. We will definitely be trying this. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hi Anne,
I've been lurking around your blog for a while- Love the recipes and the cats -and most especially the desserts listed here!!:)

Just figured I'd mention this book called Five spices, fifty dishes- it simplifies Indian cooking pretty nicely- its really not that complicated to start with actually, just looks that way !:)

Deb in Hawaii said...

I bought this book the other day but have not cooked from it yet. I'll be trying this curry though--it looks great!

Anonymous said...

660 curries? Wow. I've tried a few Indian dishes, with mixed results (some very good, others, eh), but I'm not sure I've ever made a "true" curry, although things I've made up have probably come close. This looks great... I look forward to trying it. Thanks!

Beth (jamandcream) said...

Thats a lot of curries!! But we love curries here so perhaps its worth a purchase! Chicken curry is always a hit in my house -will have to try

Dagmar said...

It looks lovely!

Joe Horn said...

Hello Anne, nice blog. I just read your recipe and visited your blog for the first time today. I just posted an entry on my blog about chicken curry with a yogurt sauce. Come by and check it out if you can and let me know what you think.
http://cookingquest.wordpress.com

Thanks,.

Joe