An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey [40]
2 whole black peppercorns
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ cup tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth (canned or homemade)
½ teaspoon salt
Put your potatoes to boil. When done, drain off water and leave potatoes to cool. (Do not use boiled potatoes which have been refrigerated for this recipe.)
Place onion, garlic, and ginger in container of blender with 5 tablespoons water and blend to smooth paste.
Remove skin from chicken pieces and pat them dry.
Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high flame, then add the cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom, red peppers, peppercorns, and chicken pieces. Fry chicken pieces quickly on all sides until golden brown. Remove chicken with slotted spoon and set aside.
Pour the paste from blender into skillet, averting your face. Add turmeric and fry, stirring, for about 3 minutes. Now add the tomato sauce and the chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Peel and quarter the potatoes. Add salt, the browned chicken pieces, and the potatoes to the sauce. Stir, bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 20 to 25 minutes or until chicken is tender. Turn chicken and potatoes a few times while they are cooking.
To serve: Put chicken pieces, potatoes, and sauce into a bowl and serve with hot chapatis, parathas, or pooris. Serve green beans or peas with it and at least one kind of relish (a yogurt relish might be a good idea).
Chicken with sliced lemon and fried onions
SERVES 4–6
Cooked with lemon slices, sugar, and fried onions, this chicken dish is unusual and quite delicious. You could use a whole fryer, cut into small sections, or you could buy just legs and breasts, dividing the legs into drumstick and thigh and quartering the breast.
3–3½ pounds chicken
3 medium-sized onions
A piece of fresh ginger, about 1-inch cube, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
8 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
4 tablespoons tomato sauce
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 whole lemon
1 tablespoon sugar
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Skin all the chicken pieces and pat them dry.
Peel the onions. Chop two of them coarsely and put them into the container of an electric blender. Cut the third one in half lengthwise, then slice it into thin half-rounds and set aside.
Add 6 tablespoons of water, the ginger, and the garlic to the onions in the blender and blend at high speed until you have a smooth paste.
Heat 6 tablespoons of the oil in a 10–12-inch pot over medium-high flame. When hot, put in the sliced onions and fry them, stirring, until they are darkish brown and crisp, though not burned. Remove onions with a slotted spoon and leave them to drain on paper towels.
In the same oil, brown the chicken pieces on all sides until they are golden. (Do this speedily over high flame so chicken browns but does not cook through. You will need to do it in at least two batches.) Remove chicken with slotted spoon to a bowl or plate.
Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the pot. Pour in the paste from the blender. (Keep face averted.) Stirring, fry on medium-high heat for about 10 minutes or until paste turns a nice golden brown. Now put in the coriander, cumin, and turmeric and fry, stirring continuously; after another 2 minutes add yogurt, a teaspoon at a time; after 2 or 3 minutes, the tomato sauce, a tablespoon at a time, continuing to stir and fry. Finally, add salt, cinnamon, cloves, cayenne pepper, and 1½ cups of water. Bring to a boil. Cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Cut the lemon into 4 or 5 slices, discarding the end pieces, and remove the seeds. Add lemon slices along with the chicken pieces, fried onions, sugar, and freshly ground pepper to the sauce, stir, and bring to a boil. Cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 20 to 25 minutes or until chicken is tender, turning the