Everything about food, from matching food and wine to recipes, techniques and trends.

RCP: Sri Balakrishna's Curried Chicken

Moderators: Jenise, Robin Garr, David M. Bueker

no avatar
User

Paul Winalski

Rank

Wok Wielder

Posts

7974

Joined

Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:16 pm

Location

Merrimack, New Hampshire

RCP: Sri Balakrishna's Curried Chicken

by Paul Winalski » Sat Aug 05, 2006 2:24 am

Masala

1/2 tsp vegetable oil
1" piece stick cinnamon
2-3 cloves
6-8 black peppercorns
1 medium onion, chopped

Heat the spices over moderate heat in the oil in a small pan until the aroma comes up and the cloves and cinnamon begin to swell (be careful not to burn the spices). This takes only a minute or so. Then add the onion and saute until transparent.

Transfer to a blender or food processor. Add the following:

1 medium tomato
1 (or more) dried hot chiles
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
2 TBS dried unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup water

Blend to a fine paste, adding more water if necessary.

Curry

2 lbs chicken parts, preferable bone-in but skinned, cut into stew-sized chunks
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 TBS oil
1 tsp salt

1. Marinate the chicken in the yogurt for 1/2 hour.
2. Heat the oil over medium-high heat. Saute the onions and garlic until transparent.
3. Add the meat and saute 3-5 minutes.
4. Add the masala and salt. Boil 5 minutes, then simmer covered for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Notes

Vegetable oil: olive oil, especially EVOO, will impart a taste and aroma of olives that is unwelcome here. Something like peanut or corn or canola is more suitable. Or ghee.

Spices: The first step in making the masala is roasting the spices to release their aromatic oils. You can substitute an equivalent amount of ground spices if you don't have them whole. Ground spices don't need to be roasted.

Chiles: As written, this recipe is pretty tame in the heat department. Add more dried red chiles (or more peppercorns) to the masala to turn up the heat. Hot ground chiles, such as ground cayenne, is OK to use here. You could also try fresh red or green chiles in the masala.

Coconut: The recipe calls for dried coconut because it's generally easier to find than fresh. If using fresh, shred or roughly grate it first before adding it to the blender. If using dry, make sure it's unsweetened.

Grinding: Traditionally masalas, wet or dry, are ground in a large mortar and pestle. IMO a blender does a better job than a food processor of grinding things to a fine paste.

Meat: According to my Indian cookbooks, Indians prefer to use chicken on the bone, but skinned. The recipe works best with skinless, bone-in chicken cut into stew-sized chunks, but you can use boneless, or keep the skin on, or cut the chicken into the standard 8 western parts (breasts, thighs, legs, wings).

Serving: This is a southern Indian-style dish (note the coconut), so the usual accompaniment would be rice. It goes well with Indian breads as well.

-Paul W.
Last edited by Paul Winalski on Sun Aug 06, 2006 11:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
no avatar
User

Jenise

Rank

FLDG Dishwasher

Posts

42547

Joined

Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:45 pm

Location

The Pacific Northest Westest

Re: RCP: Sri Balakrishna's Curried Chicken

by Jenise » Sun Aug 06, 2006 11:56 am

Fantastic, Paul. A question, though: I was surprised to see the instruction to marinate the chicken in the yoghurt. In making Indian food, yoghurt is something I've habitually added toward the end of cooking to smooth out the sauce. Here, I guess, you're using it as a tenderizer?
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
no avatar
User

Paul Winalski

Rank

Wok Wielder

Posts

7974

Joined

Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:16 pm

Location

Merrimack, New Hampshire

Re: RCP: Sri Balakrishna's Curried Chicken

by Paul Winalski » Sun Aug 06, 2006 4:53 pm

Jenise wrote:Fantastic, Paul. A question, though: I was surprised to see the instruction to marinate the chicken in the yoghurt. In making Indian food, yoghurt is something I've habitually added toward the end of cooking to smooth out the sauce. Here, I guess, you're using it as a tenderizer?


Yes, I believe that is the case. The yogurt here isn't strictly necessary.

-Paul W.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Amazonbot and 3 guests

Powered by phpBB ® | phpBB3 Style by KomiDesign