Prep Time 20 minutes - Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes - Serves 5
Chicken curry, come on! It has to be one of the nations favourite dishes, & dare I say it, it’s probably more popular than a good old Sunday roast. But I guess that depends on how good or bad your roast is on a Sunday.
Regardless, if you think it’s better than a Sunday roast, that’s neither here nor there. The point is we all love a good chicken curry and if you do I recommend you give this recipe a try.
Now the good thing about this recipe is, that I’ve made it so you will have more curry sauce than what you will need. So you will be able to freeze some for a rainy day.
(You will also find this recipe on page 110 of my book Richard’s Family Favourites click here)
Chicken Marinade Ingredients
1 kg of chicken breast, cut into chunks.
500 g of natural yoghurt.
3 tbsps of tandoori masala.
1 tbsp of coriander powder.
1 tbsp of cumin powder.
2 tbsps of mild curry powder.
2 tbsps of ginger garlic paste.
1 tbsp of ground fenugreek.
1 tbsp of ground cinnamon.
2 tbsps of oil.
1 lemon, juice.
Curry Sauce Ingredients
2 onions, cut in half and finely sliced.
2 tbsps of ginger garlic paste.
1 tsp of ground cloves.
2 tsps of ground cinnamon.
2 tbsps of Garam Masala.
1 tbsp of mild curry powder.
1 tbsp of ground cumin.
70 g of flaked almonds.
3 x 400g cans of plum tomatoes.
2 tbsps of mango chutney.
284 ml of double cream.
Method
The first thing to do is take all the chicken marinade ingredients pop into a large bowl or Tupperware, mix together and leave for a few hours or as long as possible or even better overnight.
To make the curry sauce place a large pan over a medium to low heat add a good splash of oil and gently fry the onions with a good pinch of salt. You want to gently fry the onions till they get really nice and soft, don’t rush this, it will take around 30 minutes. Once the onions are done add the ginger garlic paste and cookout for a couple of minutes.
Take all the curry sauce spices and add into the onions and continue to cook for another minute. Throw in the flaked almonds and give it another couple of minutes.
Now pour in the tin tomatoes, take one of the tins fill it halfway with water and swirl it around. Pour out into the next tin swirl and into the last tin then add to the pan. This way you are left with 3 clean tins and nothing is wasted.
Add the mango chutney, season and leave to simmer for 30 minutes stirring it every so often. Next, you want to turn it into a smooth sauce and you can do this either by using a handheld stick blender or a food blender. Once you have a smooth sauce stir in the cream saving a little for drizzling over the finished dish. Allow the sauce to simmer for 5 minutes, check for seasoning and then the curry sauce is done and ready to use. If you think the sauce is too thick, feel free to add a splash of water till you reach the consistency you’re happy with. I like the sauce to be on the thick side.
To cook the chicken you can do this in one of 3 ways. Under a hot grill, in a frying pan or my preferred way is by spreading the chicken out on a roasting tray and popping in a preheated oven set at 240℃ for 10-15 minutes. Whichever method you choose just please make sure the chicken is cooked all the way through, you don’t want Delhi belly do you.
When the chicken is done place into a large saucepan or bowl and pour in around half of the curry sauce. You will not need all of the sauce, so whatever is left over you can freeze to use another day.
Sprinkle with the fresh coriander, give it a drizzle with the reserved cream and for a little extra heat throw in some fresh chillies. Serve with the rice, a mountain of poppadoms and some naan bread.
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