At Dave's request, I had a go at a new curry yesterday for a Saturday night treat. This homemade chicken Madras recipe was an experiment that turned out really well so I thought I'd share it with you. I've always enjoyed playing around with spices and having a go at different curry bases, but this was the first time that I've used madras curry powder, and it really made a difference. The world food aisles in most supermarkets these days have a brilliant range of spices and blends that bring lots of interesting flavours together. I highly recommend taking a look there as well as the usual herbs and spices aisle, as you may find something new. Though Madras tends to be hot, this has more of a warming heat to it as I wanted to focus more on the flavour, but if you wanted to take the heat up a notch, then I'd recommend adding a 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper, and finishing with some fresh chillies to garnish. As it is, it has just enough heat to warrant a nice cold lager on the side! Enjoy :)
INGREDIENTS (serves 3-4)
- 3 tablespoons of ghee (or butter)
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 cardamon pods
- 3 cloves (optional)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons of madras curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 3 chicken breasts (chopped into bitesize pieces)
- 1 white/yellow onion (roughly chopped)
- 2 cloves of garlic (peeled)
- 2 teaspoons of ginger paste
- 1 carton of passata
- 2 tablespoons of tomato puree
- 1/3 to a 1/2 can of coconut milk (depending on what consistency and richness you want)
To garnish
- Fresh coriander
- Chopped red onion
- Chopped red chilli (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Add the garlic, onion and ginger paste to a blender/food processor and blend to a paste. Loosen with a teaspoon of water if it's not mixing well.
Heat the ghee in a large pan on a medium high heat then add the cardamon pods, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and cloves and cook out for 3-4 minutes. Then add the onion paste, stir and cook for a few minutes until starting to go golden.
Season the chicken then add to the pan and cook for 5 minutes until sealed.
Reduce the heat to medium then add all the remaining dried ingredients and mix them in (paprika, cinnamon, ground coriander, sugar, curry powder, salt, pepper). Cook for a few minutes.
Remove the cloves, cinnamon stick and bay leaves at this point. You can remove the cardamon pods here or leave them in to cook if you like to eat them.
Add in the the tomato puree and passata and mix thoroughly then add the coconut milk and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes then leave it to sit until you're ready to eat. Serve with rice and whatever extras you fancy, and garnish with fresh coriander, finely chopped red onion and red chilli if desired.
And that's it. Nice and easy. This one gets better the longer it sits so if you want to make it ahead it will benefit it. It's also fine to freeze, that;s if you manage to keep any leftovers! As ever let me know how this one goes, and tag me on social if you make it yourselves. Happy cooking :)