Tuesday 29 May 2012

Purple Kitchen Chicken Curry

This curry is Punjabi style. It tastes & smells fantastic! Have with rice or chapattis/rotis or even pittas. (I always keep some pitta breads in the freezer when I'm too lazy to make chapattis)




Ingredients

2 tbsp olive or sunflower oil
2 or 3 onions depending on size, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed through a press
1 tsp cumin seeds
finely grated root ginger about 2 full tsps
1 green chilli,  finely chopped. (more if you want it extra spicy)
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsps salt or to taste
400g tin plum tomatoes*, 
1heaped tsp garam masala
1 red pepper, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
3 skinless chicken breasts, diced
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
 some boiling water


It looks like a long list but it doesn't take that long to make - about 45mins

*I try to use good quality tinned tomatoes in a rich tomato sauce. These will be riper and sweeter. If you use the cheaper varieties (i.e when the expensive ones aren't on offer) add about 2tsps of tomato puree with the tinned tomatoes. Or you can always use plain passatta sauce

What to do:

Use a large pan or wok and start by frying the onions in the oil over a medium heat until softened and they begin to colour. Add the garlic and the cumin and stir.

Let this cook for a further couple of minutes then add the grated ginger and the chopped chilli. Stir well and add the salt and the turmeric. It may start to stick to the bottom so reduce the heat and stir as it cooks a bit more. 

Add the chicken and fry in the onion and spices until cooked all over i.e not pink. then add the peppers.

Blitz the tomatoes with a blender until smooth, you don't have to do this but I prefer to. Add the tomatoes to the pan along with the garam masala and stir in. Top up with with about 150ml of boiling water. Cover the pan and leave to simmer for 15-20minutes, stirring occasionally.

Check the chicken is cooked through by cutting a piece in half. If it is still pink inside cook for a further 10 mins - make sure the curry is bubbling slightly on the simmer.

Once ready add the chopped coriander and serve!