Karhai chicken

My entry for The Spice is Right IV is a recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible which I love cooking when I want a quick curry or when Dan wants curry and I can't be bothered to make his favourite aloo gosht. Before this recipe came along I'd never thought of using cayenne pepper in curries (I always use ground dried red chillies though)!


This recipe is great because of all the stuff that gets added in at the end, specially the green chillies! It's a matter of taste how much of each of the final ingredients get added. We like our curries hot here but while I like more coriander, Dan prefers less; ditto for the garam masala.

2 chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
1 medium onion finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1.5in piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
salt
cayenne pepper
ground turmeric
natural yoghurt
2/3 a (400g) tin of tinned tomatoes

also:
1 tablespoon peeled, and shredded fresh ginger
finely chopped coriander leaves
hot green chillies
1 tsp garam masala
rest of the tinned tomatoes

1. Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a non-stick pan (or a wok, or if you’ve got one, a korai). Add the onion, garlic and ginger and stir fry until golden brown (4-5 minutes).
2. Add salt, cayenne pepper and turmeric. I don’t measure out how much I add, but just sprinkle it in until it looks right. (The actual recipe calls for 1¼ tsp salt, 1 tsp cayenne pepper and ½ tsp ground turmeric.) Stir.
3. Add the chicken and fry until all the pink bits on the outside disappear.
4. Add yoghurt (how much I add is really variable – anything from two heaped tbsp to 6!) and tomato and cook for another 4 - 5 minutes.
5. Cover and cook for about 7-9 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Stir in all the ingredients from the second list, turn the heat to low, cover and cook for 2 more minutes.