Tonight’s dinner was garam masala chicken, based on a Neil Perry recipe which is based on another Neil Perry recipe in which he cooks fish.  I’ve poached fish in garam masala and coconut milk before when my wife brought a friend from work home and I wanted to do something different, but the technique is a bit tricky (you turn off the stove and poach the fish in the ambient heat and serve it with snowpeas and quinoa noodles), the chicken thing is less fiddly, and my version of it less fiddly again.

The end result is delicious, I suggest you give it a hit if you like curries, and particularly if you like Asian ones.

Ingredients

  • A large whole chicken, separated down into two breasts cut into thirds (so six pieces), two wings, two thighs, two wings and two drumsticks cut in half.
  • 2 large red onions, cut into thin rings
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • A large piece of ginger, shaved if you have a mandoline, cut very finely if you don’t
  • 3 small red chillies, seeds in, chopped
  • 6 tbsp (usually one whole small container) of garam masala
  • 1 tbsp tumeric
  • 1 tbsp sweet paprika
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 tin of coconut milk
  • 2 cups of chicken stock
  • juice of a lemon

Method

Brown the chicken pieces in a saute, in batches if you need to (you shouldn’t, don’t worry if you aren’t convinced the pieces are cooked, they’ll be poached later).  Remove the chicken and add the vegetables.  Stir them with a wooden fork/spoon for about ten or fifteen minutes until they are soft but haven’t begun to caramelise.  Add the spices and turn the heat up a bit, the spices will soak up any oil and make almost a dry mud – after a minute it’ll start to really release aroma, at this point put in the coconut milk and stock, sugar and soy.  Season with a little salt, and return the chicken pieces to the sauté.  Simmer on as low as the sauté can go while still disturbing the surface with bubbles, for about 35 minutes.  As it finishes, stir in the lemon juice, then serve with steamed rice.

{July 10, 2011} {Tags: , , }