Friday, November 16, 2007

Almond Chicken Curry

Fall day, a bowl of hot spicy chicken curry, parathas, a sunny window seat and a mystery novel, these are a few of my favorite things. Kind of getting carried away by the whole thing but for one minute snafu, fall is the not exactly my cup of tea, the shrinking daylight hours, gloomy days, chilly windy days all conspire to make me feel blue and any upliftment in the way of food is always welcome. That is where the Almond Chicken Curry comes in.

One day as I walk by the office kitchen this delicious aroma of wonderful chicken curry wafts where usually it is a smell that is a mixture of frozen dinners, pasta, chinese food, whcih makes me want to eat lunch too, but this was special and made me want to rush home and cook right away. Well my friend says her friend cooked it for her and she askes her friend and he text messages the recipe over to her and she to me. He had used cashews, I substituted with Almonds it being the Good Nut and all.


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Ingredients
1. 1 1/2 lb Thighs with bones cut into bite sized pieces and clean with some turmeric
2. 1 Red onion chopped fine
3. 6 garlic cloves
4. 1 1/2 inch ginger
5. 15 whole almonds
6. 1 tbsp red chili powder
7. 3 cloves
8. a small cinnamon piece
9. bay leaf
10. 1/2 tbsp oil

To Make a Paste
1. Saute the garlic and ginger
2. Soak the almonds in some hot water and remove the skin
3. Blend to a smooth paste

Method
1. In a hard bottomed pan, heat oil and fry the chicken till they start to brown, set aside.
2.Add the remaning oil, add the clove, cinnamon and bay leaves, when they start to turn color, add the onions and saute till brown. (for a smoother creamier gravy chop the onion really fine or blend to a paste and then saute)
3. add the chili powder followed by the
4. almond paste, and about a cup of water and let it cook
5. now add the chicken and salt and cook till the chicken is cooked through and desired consistency is reached. I wanted mine slightly watery but if you want it thicker reduce the amount of water.

Serve hot with some parathas near a sunny window and a mystery novel

15 comments:

  1. I've had this chicken in my friend's house during a dinner party. She told me that almond was the main ingredient in it. But I never got a chance to get the full recipe from her. Yours look exactly the same except for the color(I think she added turmeric to hers). Thanks for posting this.

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  2. This gravy sounds really flavorful - am definitely trying it out with vegetables, maybe even some tofu.

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  3. Delicious...making this soon...am sure this will be well loved.
    Had a question. When you say 1/2 tbsp oil, I find it really hard to use that little oil to brown the onions and the masala the Indian way, like "fry till masala leaves oil"

    How do you do it, any tips ? I am making an effort to check the oil I use to cook,from next week, so I will measure and use from now on.

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  4. Love the almond chicken it looks so creamy

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  5. the chicken curry sounds really tasty! the almonds would give it a special flavor...

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  6. Kribha, I did not add turmeric, just used it to wash the chicken. The almond makes it creamy and rich.

    KayKat visited your blog, you have a lovely one. Hope Vodka is doing fine. Sure mixed vegetable and Tofu might work, how about panfrying the tofu before adding it. Post the recipe if you do make it.


    Sandeepa, good question! most of my measurement are approximations never exact but I rarely ever use more than a 1/2 tbsp of oil a little bit more if stuff is sticking to the pan but never otherwise. I almost never saute the masala till oil starts to leave :)

    For this recipe,
    since the chicken already had fat sauted it first,in a heavy bottom pan adding just a tsp of oil and then in the same pan with remaining oil saute the onions. Yes I do agree a lot more
    frying is required to keep them from sticking to the pan.

    I have also noticed that making a paste of raw onions and getting it cooked requires far more oil than sauteing chopped onions, if I need a paste of onions I saute them before blending, same with garlic and ginger. So the paste in this recipe is usually made with raw garlic and ginger but then a lot more oil would have been required to get it cooked.

    Hope these tips help you, but since we are used to eating minimal oil, too much oil does not sit well. But if you are used to being liberal with oil, reduce half a tsp every time and then slowly you can't notice the difference :) Let me know how it turns out San.

    Happy cook, you won't be disappointed.

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  7. Indo, you won't believe this. Last night I was looking at the Badam Murgh recipe!:D
    Looks great girl, I know it tastes so delicious!:))

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  8. I was wondering when you might post this recipe, ever since I saw the delicious bowl peeking out to the side of the pumpkin parathas! I have to admit I don't love almonds... in this dish however, I might change my mind.

    Hope you can enjoy that novel in the sunshine this weekend, ISG :)

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  9. was looking forward to this recipe since u mentioned it earlier, thinking i can substitute with some veg. i make something similar w paneer and leave a couple of almonds coarsely chopped in the gravy :)

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  10. I've used cashews for almonds in this kind of preparation. Are you sending this gravy for the food blog event Grindless gravies?

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  11. Now, thats a really divine curry! I love the flavor of almonds in curry and make a curry with them using paneer and dried morels. I'll try your recipe with some dried vegetables, am sure its gonna' rock!!

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  12. I have had the cashew Moghlai version sometime back and it was delicious....your recipe is a keeper

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  13. chicken looksss so yummyyyyy with that richh sauce

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  14. I am going to love this for sure... This is being bookmarked to try :) it looks sooo creamy and delish!

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  15. Indo, This one is very good. just tried it and LOVED it! Thank you! :) I think we'll be making it very often with rotis.

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