How about a heartwarming dish that is sure to be a crowd pleaser and not too hot for the kids to indulge in?

This chicken curry is not only easy to make, it also does not take too long to put together once you have assembled all your ingredients together. It is delicious, colourful and as with all curries, tastes even better after it sits a while.

What makes this curry special is you blend your whole spices to make a spice blend that with will give the chicken curry the warmth and depth of flavour you would find in a restaurant style curry.

Let’s get started. Our ingredients are:-

• 2.5 kg chicken. Bone in. Cleaned, cut into large pieces, pat dry and sprinkle some salt and black pepper before setting aside.
• 2 tbsp ghee.
• 2 big onions, sliced.
• 2 tbsp ginger garlic and turmeric paste.
• 2 bay leaves.
• 1 tbsp tomato paste.
• 3 large tomatoes, blended.
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric.
• 1 heaped tbsp curry Spice blend ( I used my homemade one with coriander seeds, whole black peppercorns, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and cumin seeds).
• I small bunch coriander (stalks and leaves separated and chopped).
• 1 tsp amchoor aka dry mango powder.
• 1 heaped tsp Garam Masala.
• half a lemon for squeezing at the end.

Method.

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wide pan on high heat and sear the chicken. You can do so in batches. I do this to seal in the meat’s juices. Do not cook the chicken through, just to brown it on all sides.

2. In the same pan, add ghee and once melted, add the bay leaves then sliced onions. Let the onions cook on high heat until turning golden, then add the ginger garlic and turmeric paste. Stir to avoid burning.

3. As the onions cook, you can blend the whole spices to get your spices ready.

4. Add tomato paste to the onion and ginger garlic blend, let the tomato paste cook down and caramelize a bit then add the ground spice blend, then the ground turmeric, followed by the dhania stems, you can add a splash of water so they do not burn. Lower the heat and let the spice mix cook down and release all its delicious aromas. By now, your kitchen will be filled with the smell of something good cooking! Add the blended tomatoes and a pinch of salt.

5. Once the tomatoes have cooked down and thickened a bit add the seared chicken pieces. If your masala is too dry for your liking, you can add some water but not more than a cup. Remember, it is a curry not a stew. Cover and let the chicken cook on medium low heat for about 20 minutes.

6. Stir the chicken and check seasoning, if to your liking, add the amchoor/ dry mango powder. Mix in well then cover and let the curry cook till the chicken is well cooked through.

7. Once your chicken curry is ready, stir in the garam masala, coriander leaves and a squeeze of half a lemon. Cover and let sit a while before serving.

8. Serve your chicken curry with your starch and sides of choice. We had ours with methi naan, some jeera rice, spicy cabbage fry and a mint raita.

Yummy, colourful , aromatic, flavourful and fingerlicking good. What would your pair your chicken curry with?

Let me know when you try out this recipe and as always, thanks for stopping by. Do not forget to like, share and subscribe.

Love,

Wanjoro.