Chicken curry with a twist in the tail....

It is past 12.00 am, the baby is finally asleep and the husband is watching Kung Fu Panda 2 on HBO, an idyllic period to sit down and compose my first write-up for the blog. I have been writing for a long time now, but that is a part of my job profile. And I don’t know if that can be termed as ‘writing’ at all. I write reports, reports on the state of concrete jungles, or better known as real estate. A far cry from my childhood days when I would write travelogues after each summer vacation and my cousin would get those published in a local English newspaper. 

I don’t know if I shall be able to write regularly although I do travel a lot and cook a lot, my two favourite things. Food and travel has been an integral part of my life throughout, in both my unmarried and married avatars. I remember how dad used to emphasize on food while visiting different regions of the country. Both my parents would strive to learn how to cook a dish that we liked while on our various travels and then try to re-create the same at home. Perhaps that is how I gained some interest and knowledge on food. 

One of my major concerns before marriage was whether the guy would share my love for food and travel. Thankfully, the husband is equally passionate and I hope to share some of his recipes here. 

So, let me start off with my maiden dish. I had been planning of a grand entry to the blog world with a stunning dish or an amazing travel adventure. Well, since I am the queen of procrastination, all that grandeur shall have to wait for another day. The clock tells me I don’t have much time to wax eloquent before the baby becomes cranky.

I made a normal chicken curry today but decided to add a little something to make it slightly different, and hence the twist in the tail.

 Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk

Ingredients:

½ kg chicken – cut into medium sized pieces

Two large onions – chopped fine

1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste

1 teaspoon each of turmeric powder, cumin powder and coriander powder

Fresh green chillies – as per your taste buds

One potato – quartered

3 tablespoons tomato puree

1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons refined oil

Salt and sugar

A sprig of coriander for garnishing

For the marinade:

2 tablespoons yoghurt

1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup

Method:

Marinate the chicken pieces with yoghurt, ginger-garlic paste and tomato ketchup for about an hour. I was running short of time and hardly waited for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a kadai and start frying up the onions, chillies and ginger-garlic paste. I added some sugar to get the onions caramelized. This lends a beautiful colour to the curry as well. Add the powders to the fried onions and ginger-garlic and let the spices get acquainted with each other for some time. Take care not to burn the new friends!

Once the masala is cooked, add the tomato puree and keep stirring for a minute. Finally, tip in the chicken and the potatoes, put the gas on ‘simmer’ or ‘low’, cover the kadai and get on with other business of the house. Keep checking up on the chicken and season it. If you want some gravy, add some water to the chicken.  Once the chicken is cooked, it is time to add the ‘twist in the tail’. Take half a cup of coconut milk and pour that in. Let it simmer for some time before taking it off the gas. Garnish the chicken curry with fresh coriander.

And that’s it. As simple as that. An ‘everyday chicken curry’ with the tanginess of yoghurt and tomatoes and the sweetness of coconut milk. A slightly different dish from the normal curry we have every time. You can play around with the ingredients, make your own version of chicken curry and then add a dash of coconut milk at the end. Does it make your own dish seem a little different? Do let me know! Till then, I shall try to come up with more recipes. 

Take care, all of you!