Day 29

Recipe Saturday!

I'll tell you how to make the chicken/potato curry the habitat-mate and I have been living off for the last month. Full disclosure: This is a bastardization of several curry styles. I just picked parts of the recipes I like and combined them. Probably no self-respecting Indian cook would make this. I fully admit I'm clueless about the finer points of Indian cooking, and I keep it tame where heat is concerned. Adjust anything if you know better.

Ingredients
3-4 Small waxy potatoes, washed
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 large yellow onion or two medium yellow onions
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
3 cloves garlic
2 cups cooked chickpeas.
2 cups chicken stock or reserved chickpea cooking water.
1 cup cashews
1/4 cup almond slivers or peanuts
1/4 cup raisins
Juice of half a lemon, or a tablespoon concentrated lemon juice.
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes (or 2 14 oz cans--whatever's on sale, right?)
1 14 oz can coconut milk
1 bunch cilantro, stemmed and chopped.
olive oil
salt

Basmati rice as desired.

Spice Mix
(Grind, or buy ground, and mix together)
1 heaping tablespoon coriander
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon cardamom
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon dry ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon Chile de Arbol, or other red chili powder
A pinch of asafoetida (aka hing)

Additional Spices
2 bay leaves
Inner seeds from 3 whole dried coriander pods, broken open
3 whole cloves
1 short cinnamon stick

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces, with skin on. Toss with a few tablespoons olive oil and salt to taste. Roast in a single layer on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper. Stir occasionally. Remove when softened and beginning to show golden brown color. Cool and set aside.

2. Bring chicken stock or chickpea cooking water to a simmer in a medium saucepan.

3. Trim fat and sinew from chicken thighs, adding trimmings to simmering stock. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. In a glass or plastic container, cover chicken pieces with water and add 2 tbsp salt to brine. Refrigerate until needed.

4. Peel ginger and slice thinly against the fiber. Peel garlic cloves and slice thinly. Halve and peel onions, then slice medium-thin.

5. Remove stock from heat. Take out chicken trimmings with a slotted spoon. Add cashews to soak in stock.

6. Coat the bottom of a medium stock pot with olive oil. Heat on medium-high until shimmering. Add ginger slices and cook, stirring with a wooden utensil 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic slices to ginger and cook one minute, continuing to stir. Remove pot from heat and take out browned ginger and garlic pieces with a slotted spoon. Add ginger and garlic to stock, to soak with the cashews.

7. Return pot to heat, adding oil as needed to coat bottom. When shimmering, add sliced onions, cardamom seeds, cinnamon stick, and whole cloves. Cook, stirring frequently. Continue to stir onions on medium-high or medium heat. When onion mixture threatens to stick to bottom of pot, add a tablespoon or two of water and scrape bottom of pot with wooden utensil. Continue cooking onions, occasionally adding and cooking out a tablespoon of water, until onions are a deep caramel color, approximately 30 minutes.

8. When onions are a deep caramel color, remove 2/3 of the onion mixture, adding it to the stock with the ginger, garlic, and cashews. Over medium heat, add the spice mixture to remaining onions, along with more olive oil if needed, stirring until the spices are fragrant and lightly toasted, one or two minutes. Immediately add canned tomatoes, scraping the pot with wooden utensil to mix in any fond or spices stuck on the bottom. Set heat to low. Stir in coconut milk. Add bay leaves. Simmer, stirring occasionally to keep sauce from sticking to bottom.

9. Place mixture of stock, soaked cashews, ginger, garlic, and onion into a blender. Blend until well-pureed. Pour pureed mixture into sauce pot, stirring to integrate. Add salt a teaspoon at at time, to taste. Add chickpeas to sauce and continue to simmer.

10. Remove chicken from refrigerator and drain brine. Pat chicken pieces dry with a paper towel. Coat a frying pan with olive oil and heat at medium until shimmering. In batches as needed, brown chicken pieces. Set aside. When all chicken is browned, use 1/4 cup stock or water to deglaze pan. Add deglazing liquid to sauce pot.

11. Cook Basmati rice as desired to serve with curry, preparing to directions on package.

12. Remove bay leaves and cinnamon stick from curry sauce. 10 minutes before serving, add roasted potatoes, almond slivers or peanuts, lemon juice, and raisins. Add additional salt to taste. 5 minutes before serving, add browned chicken pieces. 3 minutes before serving, add half the chopped cilantro.

13. Taste once more for seasoning. Serve with rice. Garnish with remaining cilantro. Enjoy!