Anjali's Food Kaleidoscope

Chicken curry

I prefer calling this curry a simple punjabi or better still desi chickan curry (I didnt misspell it).

    How does just a simple  mixture of onions and tomatoes with a few simple spices thrown in, make such a scrumptious meal is still a mystery to me. All you need with this curry is plain rice and onions cut in big chunks with a lemon squeezed on them .   

Ingredients:

1.              One kg dressed chicken cut into medium sized pieces

2.              Four big onions

3.              2 big tomatoes

4.              One tablespoon heaped ginger garlic paste

5.              1 teaspoon kashmiri red chilly powder

6.              ¼ tsp turmeric powder

7.              ½ tsp coriander powder

8.              One inch cinnamon stick

9.              4 - 5 cloves

10.         2-3 black cardamons

11.         4- 5 tablespoons pure  ghee

Method:

1.            Take ghee in a medium sized pressure cooker and warm it. Forget the calorie count, just enjoy the chickan...exercise a little extra today....if you really are very particular...then go ahead substitute the ghee with refined oil....

2.             Add the condiments and stir for a minute.

3.             Add the onions sliced fine and stir till they turn golden brown on a medium flame. Now this simple step takes the maximum time as all this has to be done on a medium flame if you want to caramelise the onions to the zenith of their flavour which gives a heavenly taste to this curry.
          You will notice that a whole lot of onions will reduce to less than one third the initial quantity.
           Now don't you turn the gas on full flame and be done with this task quickly....have patience...it pays...I promise you a rich and delicious curry if you will just hang around the pressure cooker for a little while and keep stirring every now and then ...and in no time ...voila...the onions have turned a beautiful golden brown...and lets get on with the next step....sorry friends...that is going to take some time too......remember its a delicious and  yummy chicken curry that we are making here...lets get serious...

4.             Add the sliced tomatoes and the ginger garlic paste and  cook till the mixture leaves oil and then add the red chilly powder, turmeric and coriander powder and roast for a minute.

5.             Add the chicken pieces and stir fry for ten minutes. No short cuts here too.....just gently and patiently turn them over but not too frequently....you will be happy with yourself for doing this.

6.             Add enough water to cover the chicken pieces well and steam . 

7.                  7.     Give about 4 – 5 whistles depending on the toughness of the chicken.

8.                8.       Let the steam go off and check the chicken by piercing a fork in to the pieces.

9.               9.      If its done then garnish with freshly chopped coriander and serve with steaming hot rice. Enjoy the chicken curry...you worked hard for it.

Serving bowl by corelle