Punjabi Cuisine

This recipe is the real thing.
Throw out your curry powder: you'll never use it again once you've
tried this recipe. Chicken curry using the real spices cannot be beat!!

Ingredients:

serves 2\-3
1 chicken
1 piece fresh ginger about 3/4 inch or 2 cm

12\-14 garlic cloves
1 large onion
1 cinnamon stick
2 whole brown cardamom pods
4 whole green cardamom pods
1 whole star anise
(use all 8 arms and the seeds inside them)
12\-14 black peppercorn
6\-8 cloves
1 tsp turmeric 5 ml
1 tsp red chili powder 5 ml
(or substitute fresh red chilies, diced)
2 green chilies
\(12 cup yogurt 125 ml
\(14 cup oil 60 ml
(preferably ghee, if available)
salt to taste
fresh coriander leaves
(optional)

Method:

1 Clean and joint chicken. If you don't like the skin, remove it.
Mash the ginger into a paste (or chop finely) and mince the garlic.
Heat oil in a large frying pan. Use ``medium high heat''.
Break apart the star anise to release the seeds inside the arms.
To the frypan, add onions, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, star aniseed, peppercorn, cloves, garlic and ginger. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

Saut\z\(aee until the onions are cooked but not browned.
Add the chicken, turmeric, and chili powder and cook on a medium heat,
stirring often.

When the oil starts to separate (the gravy will have oil floating
on its surface), add the yogurt and cook till the chicken is done and
the gravy is thick. Finally, add the fresh coriander leaves.
This is the basic recipe. Try varying the whole spice combinations
until you find a favorite. The recipe doubles well.

A cardamom pod is not the same thing as a cardamom seed. Make sure you get the pods. A pod is about the size of a pea, and contains seeds inside it.

Don't substitute the ground version of any of the whole spices, the effect will not be the same. And don't use white cardamom pods.
You may want to remove the smaller whole spices
prior to adding the yogurt so that unwitting guests don't eat them.
Try the recommended quantity of garlic. The flavour is surprisingly subtle.

More yogurt makes more gravy. Also a longer cooking time.
Vary the amount of chilies to suit your taste. This recipe is medium hot.

The spice quantities may be varied to suit your preferences.

RATING

Difficulty:
easy, though timing matters when cooking the onions.
Time: 20 minutes preparation, 1\(12 hours cooking.
Precision: measure the oil