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| Toot Toot! (that's me tooting my own horn) the best place to eat Curry is totally at my house.  Getting the right kind of spice is so hard in this Expat community for Indian restaurants and even when I ask for 'extra spice' they look at the white girl and grin, as if to say 'yeah right'. I have yet to have a nice curry served that is to my taste, so I prefer getting the supplies and throwing it all together in my home. Yes Yes, one of these days my home restaurant will be open for everyone (we are in the midst of moving)...and I would want everyone to wear a nice rose for me when the door is open  | |
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Most cookery sites, and guide will tell you a lot of cock and bull stories about the right kind of spice for good chicken curry.
But believe me, in India, we cook tastly curry with minimalistic stuff.
All spices we need are simple.
In California, most indian stores carried the spices we needed, and ditto is the case in England. I guess cities of switzerland should be no different.
Anyways, here is the recipe for 1 chicken (700-800 grams skinned and cut in medium pieces).
Ingredients
1. 3 pieces green cardamom ->
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...n_cardamom.jpg Its called Elaichi (E-LAI-CHI (as in chin)
2. two pieces cloves dried ->
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...lovesDried.jpg its called Lavang (pronounced like long)
3. Optional -> One inch long stick of cinnamon(or broken equivalent thereof). Called "Daal-chini) Pronouce it like Chin-ee -> it gives a sweeter aroma
4. MEAT MASALA (not CHICKEN MASALA) - Its milder than the chicken masala variety and tastes better. You get it in all Indian stores. Just look for meat masala. MDH is one of the biggest exporters, and I have seen their products lying on store shelves in US/Singapore and even Hong Kong. There is subtle taste variation between various mfrs - Take around 1 heaped table spoon of this thing
5. One Tea spoon Sugar
6. 1 heaped teaspoon of salt (to taste) . Basically if you add more water, it requires more salt
7. Five medium onions (After skinning, the onions should weigh almost as much as the chicken, i.e. around 500-600gms atleast). A little more will not hurt
8. Olive Pomace oil - 3 Tablespoons
9. Non stick utensil
10. One hour of time at your disposal, with 15 minutes dedicated.
11. OPTIONAL - Half teaspoon of red chilli powder, or one teaspoon of black pepper. It will give it the jing.
12. OPTIONAL - Adding turmeric (Called HULDI) will bring the color (half teaspoon)
13. OPTIONAL - Adding 2 tomatos finely cut will make it more tangy
So skin the onions(take of the dry skin), and put them in your mixer grinder, and grind the them till they are pulp
Take your cardamom + cinnamon + cloves, and beat them with a rolling pin, to crush them
Heat oil in a NON Stick pan, and put in the crushed substance. Wait till it starts to sizzle (10-15 seconds in hot oil)
Put in the onion pulp(lower the heat, or hot oil will splash)
Immediately Put in
MEAT MASALA
PEPPER or CHILLI POWDER(optional)
SALT
TURMERIC
Keep stirring, till the onions turn brown and start sticking to non stick. Basically the mixture will become thick guey paste.
If you have cut tomatos, put them in when the onions start turning brown, and keep stirring, till it goes darkish. (will take 3-4 minutes on high heat)
Put in your chicken, and stir it thoroughly, till the "mixture is sticking to all pieces".
Stir it for 2-3 minutes on high heat, and then lower heat, and cover it with a lid.
Stir every 10 minutes for around 30-40 minutes.
Your thick curry is ready. If you want thinner curry(to eat with rice instead of bread), then add 300-400ml of water when chicken is almost cooked).
Remember, chicken also has high water content, so wait till 20-30 minutes of slow heat cooking to decide how much water to add.
POINTS to NOTE:
first time it will not be very tasty, because the spices have been added according to my taste. So after its made and you eat it here is what you should do to remedy it
1. SALT too much or too little - Alter accordingly. too little can be remedied, for too much boil 3 large potatos, and then cut them into medium pieces(5-6 pieces per potato) and cook it with chicken for 5 minutes
2. Too spicy - Next time put half chilli, or use black pepper(lesser quantity)
3. Bland - If you want to feel burning taste in your mouth, add more chilli, if you want more flavor, add more masala next time. Do not add masala or chilli in cooked chicken, as masala needs to cook with chicken. black pepper can be sprinkled on
4. Weird flavor with pungent tinge to it -> Next time do not add turmeric, if its very "aromatic" and too much cinnamon coffee kind of aroma, add less cinnamon. Heating for 5 minutes with lid open will reduce cinnamon aroma
6. less or more tangy,-> add a tomato or remove a tomato next time. For tanginess, you can squeeze in one small lemon. Again best done when adding chicken(start of chicken cook)
7. When checking whether chicken has cooked, taste the breast, not the thigh or leg. thighs or legs cook sooner.
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