Everyone asked for this, so here is my recipe for the Chicken Curry that I brought to Saturday's potluck, taken from the Fall issue of Taste Magazine (Published by the BC Liquor Distribution Board).
| 1⁄3 cup | (80 ml) | canola oil or light olive oil |
| 2 cups | (500 ml) | onion, finely chopped |
| 1–3-in | (8 cm) | cinnamon stick |
| 3 tbsp | (45 ml) | garlic, finely chopped |
| 2 tbsp | (30 ml) | ginger, chopped |
| 2 cups | (500 ml) | tomatoes, chopped |
| 1 tbsp | (15 ml) | salt |
| 1⁄2 tsp | (2 ml) | ground black pepper |
| 1 tsp | (5 ml) | turmeric |
| 1 tbsp | (15 ml) | ground cumin |
| 1 tbsp | (15 ml) | ground coriander |
| 1 tbsp | (15 ml) | garam masala |
| 1⁄2 tsp | (2 ml) | ground cayenne pepper |
| 3 lbs | (1.5 kg) | chicken thighs, bone in |
| 1 cup | (250 ml) | sour cream or plain yogurt, stirred |
| 1 cup | (250 ml) | water |
| 1⁄2 cup | (125 ml) | cilantro, chopped (including stems) |
Chop the tomatoes, onions, garlic, and ginger before starting, it'll make it easier while you're cooking.
Measure out the dry spices in advance too, into a small bowl. They all go in together anyway.
Prepare the chicken: Remove and discard the skin, rinse, shake off any excess water, and and place them a large bowl until needed later.
In a large pan (I used a stock pot), heat oil on medium heat for 1 minute. Add onions and cinnamon, and sauté for another 4 minutes. Add ginger, garlic, tomatoes, and your bowl of dry spices (salt, black pepper, turmeric, cumin, coriander, garam masala and cayenne). Cook for 5 minutes, or until oil separates. Stir regularly to avoid sticking to the pan. Add chicken thighs, stir well. Cook chicken thighs for 10 minutes, until chicken looks cooked on the outside.
Add sour cream and water and stir well. Increase heat to medium-high. When curry starts to boil, reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring 2 or 3 times, until chicken is completely cooked. Poke thighs with a knife. If meat is still pink, cook for 5 more minutes. Remove and discard cinnamon stick. Cool curry for at least half an hour. Transfer cooled chicken to a mixing bowl. Wearing latex gloves, peel
chicken meat off the bones. Discard bones and stir chicken back into curry. Just before serving, heat curry on medium heat until it starts to boil lightly. Stir in cilantro.
Divide curry evenly among six bowls. Serve with naan or rice.
Note: I've made three changes to the recipe as it was originally published:
One, I cut back the oil from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup. Nobody needs that much oil. You could probably do it with 1/4 cup.
Two, I cut back the water from 2 cups to 1 cup. With 2 cups it comes out *very* wet. This may be affected by the fact that I use the round red "tomatoes on the vine" style tomatoes for the recipe. If you use a dryer variety of tomato like a Roma you may need more water. I suggest starting with 1 cup and adding a bit if it gets too thick, rather than trying to boil off the excess later.
Three, I shuffled the steps to suggest doing the prep work before starting. The recipe says to cook the first bit for 5 minutes, and then to prepare and add the chicken thighs. If you do it as the original recipe tells you, you'll be 10 minutes in and elbow deep in raw chicken when you realize that the first bits are burning to the bottom of the pan. Apparently.
Thanks Rob that was great currie. I have printed the recipe and passed it along to my cook.