Classic North Indian Chicken Curry Recipe

I was given "Indian Food Made Easy" By Anjum Anand for Christmas and tonight have been rather busy with it having made the classic northern chicken curry and tried the Naan bread recipe which didn't turn out too well and I'm not even going to blog about it. However the curry turned out great with about medium- hot spiciness to it.

I reduced the quantities of the ingredients because the original recipe served 6-8 which just sounded like too much for just the two of us.

I'm giving this a 3/5 difficulty rating, mainly because you need to pay very close attention when cooking this. Otherwise it's not very difficult at all. One warning though is to prepare your ingredients as much as possible before you even think of turning the heat on for the pan! The ingredients are listed here in order of when they are needed and grouped together for when they are needed.

Classic North Indian Chicken Curry Recipe

Serves 2-3

Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil

3 or 4 cloves
3 x 1" cinnamon sticks
3 or 4 cardamom pods

1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped

1.5 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger (or 1/4 tsp ground ginger)
4 cloves of garlic, chopped and finely peeled

salt to season
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1 tbsp ground coriander

2 medium cooking tomatoes, pureed (or finely chopped)

3 chicken breasts, sliced in half to make then thin and flat

350ml water, or more if needed

1/2 tsp garam masala
handful of fresh coriander leaves (aka cilantro)

Recipe
1. Chop your onion, garlic, ginger, tomatoes and slice your chicken breasts in half. Measure out your spices and group together as they are grouped in the ingredient list.
2. Heat the oil in a large non stick pan. Add the cloves, cinnamon sticks and cardamom pods and fry for about 20 seconds until aromatic.
3. Add the onion and cook for 8-10 minutes over a moderate heat until a rich golden brown, stirring often.
4. Stir in garlic and ginger, cook for 40 seconds then add the salt and powdered spices. Stir for 10 seconds then add the tomatoes and cook over a moderate heat for 10 minutes until the liquid has dried off.

5. Add the chicken and brown for 3-4 minutes. Add the water, add extra if needed to almost cover the chicken and reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
6. Stir in the garam masala and coriander leaves just before serving.