South Indian Inspired Chicken Curry

This chicken curry is my husband’s favourite dish. It comes together in minutes and goes really well with simple plain steamed rice.

I absolutely love South Indian food and I love creating recipes based on those refreshing, spicy flavours! A few weeks ago my husband was craving for something spicy, something different and I came up with this simple and delicious chicken curry.

There is a small story behind this chicken curry. When I was in Tokyo I had an opportunity to cook for a Brazilian ambassador and I cooked a lot of dishes for that lunch. While I was doing the tasting and developing one of the curries I made was this one. My friend who was giving the party loved it but we decided on Tandoori Chicken Makhni and I made a Babycorn and Mushroom curry using the same gravy base. They all absolutely enjoyed that vegetarian curry but my husband still prefers the chicken version of it.

You have to give this curry a try, I served it with steamed rice and layered Kerala Paratha and my husband really enjoyed it.

Do give it a try.

Ingredients for marination:

• 6 chicken drumsticks or thighs cut in long pieces
• 1 tsp ginger and garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Marinate the chicken in the above ingredients for at least 1 hour.

Instructions for the curry:

Heat 1/2 tbsp oil add all the whole spices, onion, ginger, garlic, cashews and sauté for 10 minutes till the onion becomes dark brown and cooked completely. When a bit cold, make a fine paste if it. Keep it aside.

Heat rest of the oil, add the turmeric powder and chicken. Brown the chicken on a low flame till it becomes completely brown.

Add in the the paste and some water, cook it is completely cooked.

Add in the cream and simmer for 1 minute. Add the kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves).

Garnish with fresh coriander and serve hot with rice or parathas.