Cape Malay Chicken Curry by Zurie |
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Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 50 Minutes |
Ready In: 60 Minutes Servings: 4 |
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This, like all Cape Malay curries, has as many interpretations as there are cooks! Cape Malay curries are usually not biting and strong, but rather an aromatic mixture of spices. Naturally this depends on the individual cooks, and the curry can be made much stronger by adding more chillis (hot peppers). This recipe is my way of cooking a chicken curry, more or less: it took some discipline to measure and write down how much of each spice I use! So obviously this is a dish you change to your taste. About salt: I like using a natural sea salt, like Maldon flakes or our own Khoisan sea salt. But if you use these natural salts you need more of it than when using processed table salts. Please adjust to taste. Do not expect the burning curries of India! If you can manage my spice mixture this is a most delicious dish, and the longer it stands, the better it gets, so is perfect for making a day ahead, chilling, and re-heating. But I know that across ponds these recipes are often lost in translation !! Ingredients:
1 onion, medium, finely chopped |
4 tablespoons oil |
1 1/2 teaspoons coriander seeds |
2 teaspoons hot pepper flakes (you can use fresh hot peppers to taste) |
2 teaspoons fennel, ground (or 4 teaspoons whole fennel seeds) |
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin |
2 tablespoons ginger, fresh, finely chopped |
1 teaspoon turmeric |
1/2-1 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground |
15 cardamom pods (whole pods) |
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon |
1 tablespoon garam masala (available from indian shops, choose mild) |
1 (14 ounce) can chopped tomatoes (400g) |
1 1/2 lbs chicken pieces (best to cut up a medium chicken) |
2 teaspoons garlic, finely chopped |
2 teaspoons brown sugar (i like sticky muscovado) |
1 tablespoon lemon juice |
2 -3 teaspoons salt (or more, depending on type of salt) |
Directions:
1. Gather your spices together, and peel and chop the ginger. Put the 10 spices - from the coriander seeds down to the garam masala - in a mortar and pestle or even in a coffee bean grinder. Mash them together so the cardamom pods burst and the whole thing becomes a mess of spices.
2. Then heat the oil in a pot, add the onion over fairly high heat, and stir now and then, for a few minutes. Add the spices you mashed or grinded, and stir. You might need to add more oil: spices slurp up oil as they fry. Don't worry, you will be able to skim it off again later.
3. Stir and fry spices and onion for about 2 minutes. Add the can of chopped tomatoes and stir. The heat should be high enough so everything bubbles together.
4. Add the chicken pieces, and stir to coat well, keeping heat high until everything is bubbling away.
5. Turn heat way down until it just simmers, put on a lid, and cook for about 20 minutes.
6. Sprinkle over the garlic, sugar, lemon juice and salt.
7. Simmer with lid at a small angle, for about 15 minutes more.
8. Stir through, taste the sauce, and adjust seasoning to taste.
9. Please note that it is easy, near the end of cooking, to skim off extra oil/fat with a spoon, as it collects in corners of the pot. On my photos you can see there isn't much oil or fat on the dish.
10. Serve this with rice. Tonight I served this with green vegetables and what you might call grits and beans .
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