Tried and Tested: Chicken Korma

 

Indian food is very popular here in the UK. So much so that Indian dishes have been voted the nations favourite food for years. Although, I am sure many Indian dishes in the UK are adapted to a European palate and very different from their original version. However, I am offering you here our family's take on a very popular curry - Chicken Korma. With its mild, fragrant and tasty herbs and spices it suits most people - particularly if you are not too keen on very hot and spicy food. It truly is a tried and tested recipe which has now settled in this form:

 

You need:

1kg Chicken breast or mini breast fillets
(You can obviously substitute the chicken with lamb, beef or game)

1 heaped tablespoon of finely grated fresh ginger
3 cloves of garlic, minced
150g thick (plain) yogurt
1 dried red chilli

2 finely chopped onions

1 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil

1 tbsp ground coriander
Pinch of ground black pepper
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala

water
75g creamed coconut
salt to taste

2 heaped tbsps. ground almonds
finely chopped Coriander Leaves, to garnish
juice of  1/2 lemon

This is how you do it:

 

Cut the chicken breasts into bite sized chunks and mix it with the ginger, garlic and yogurt. It is preferable to then cover it and marinade for 12 hours or in the fridge overnight.

On the day of cooking you need to liquidise the chopped onion and red chillies, add a little water if you need to blend til a smooth paste.

Heat the ghee/oil in a pan and add the ground coriander, ground black pepper, turmeric and garam masala and stir fry for about 1-minute over a low heat.

 

Turn up the heat, add the onion and chilli paste and stir fry for 5-10-minutes.

Add the chicken with the yogurt marinade and continue to stir fry for another 10-minutes.

Add the creamed coconut and enough water to *just* cover the chicken (be careful not to add too much water as the flavour may become watery). Bring it to the boil and stir in the ground almonds.

Reduce heat to low, cover the pan and simmer until the chicken is tender (30-40 minutes).

Remove from heat, add lemon juice and salt to taste. Mix well.

 

Serve with basmati rice and salad of finely chopped tomato, red onion, flat leafed parsley and mango .