South Indian Chicken Curry

Ingredients

• Serves six; yields about 1/4 cup spice mix.
• For the curry spice mix:
• Oil
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds (2 teaspoons ground)
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds (2 teaspoons ground)
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed (1 teaspoon ground)
• 4 cloves (1/4 teaspoon ground)
• 2 cardamom pods (1/4 teaspoon ground)
• 1/2-inch stick of cinnamon (1/2 teaspoon ground)
• 1/2 teaspoon peppercorns (1/2 teaspoon ground)
• 1/2 tablespoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• For the coconut milk:
• 1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 2 cups boiling water
• For the curry:
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1-inch piece of ginger, minced
• 3 onions, sliced thin
• 3 potatoes, diced in 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 green peppers
• 3 stems fresh cilantro, plus 1/4 cup loosely packed leaves
• 2 pounds chicken thighs, skinned
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds
• 2 to 3 tablespoons Curry Spice Mix or curry powder
• 2 cups coconut milk (1 cup thick, 1 cup thin)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Make the spice mix: To bring out the full flavor of the spices, roast them briefly before grinding them. Leave out the black mustard seeds, which will be used whole in the curry. Put a frying pan over medium heat, and when it's hot, add about a teaspoon of oil. Once the oil is also hot, put the unground spices in the pan and, stirring frequently, roast them until they begin to brown and release their spicy aroma. The small amount of oil develops the color and flavor of the spices, but isn't essential. If you're using ground spices, you can roast them very briefly, about 15 seconds, in a dry frying pan over low heat. They burn quickly, so be ready to remove them from the pan.

Grind the spices fine. I use a small coffee grinder, which keeps the spices in constant motion while the whirling blade grinds them. A blender or food processor won't work because the blades are too high to cut the small spices. You can also grind them, of course, in a mortar and pestle.

Make the coconut milk: Coconut milk rounds out the taste of curries, and softens the harshness of the spices. Often mistaken for the clear liquid inside a fresh coconut, coconut milk is actually a white liquid made from grated coconut meat. Whole coconuts take a bit of work to crack, peel, and grate, and in curries that have so many spices and ingredients, the fresh coconut flavor isn't essential. While canned coconut milk can be used, I prefer not to cook with it because it is more expensive and is liable to have a tinny flavor.

I find that the best compromise between flavor and convenience is to make the milk from dried, shredded coconut. I keep enough shredded, unsweetened coconut on hand so that I can make coconut milk whenever I need it. Indian markets carry very finely shredded coconut, but the unsweetened grated coconut found in grocery stores and natural-foods markets works well too. Make sure you don't buy sweetened coconut, which is too sweet to use in curries.

Making coconut milk is a three-step process, usually done twice to get all the flavor out of the coconut. First soak the coconut in an equal amount of boiling waterin this case, 1 cup of coconut and 1 cup of water. Let the mixture sit for 10 to 15 minutes, then put it in a blender or food processor and pulverize for 1 minute. Line a bowl with cheesecloth and pour in the wet paste. Gather the edges of the cheesecloth and squeeze out all the liquid in the coconut. This will give you a rich, creamy, thick milk that you add to the chicken toward the end of its cooking time. The pulp that's left behind in the cheesecloth goes through the same procedure againsoaking in a cup of boiling water, chopping, and straining into another bowl. This second batch is much thinner, but when preparing the curry, it's the one you add first.

It takes about half an hour to make the coconut milk, but you can use the time that the coconut is soaking to chop the vegetables and the chicken. You can also make coconut milk in advance and freeze it.

Assembling the vegetables and chicken: Curries are variable dishes. Onion, garlic, and ginger are standard flavorings, but a variety of vegetables can be used as main ingredients. My favorites with chicken are green peppers and potatoes. The potatoes nicely absorb the coconut curry sauce, while the peppers taste sweet and meaty. Experiment with your own favorite vegetables. Squash, carrots, cauliflower, eggplant, and spinach are a few of the vegetables that taste good with chicken.

While you can of course make chicken curry with an entire chicken cut into small pieces, I frequently use just the thighs. Chicken thighs cook evenly, and their meat is moist and tender, and because they're small, the curry flavor deeply penetrates them. I remove the skin from the thighs before I cook them to keep the fat out of the curry and to make the pieces more attractive to serve.

Make the curry: In a large pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat until it is very hot. Add 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds, and let them sizzle for about a minute. Add the garlic, ginger, sliced onion, and coriander stems, and cook them for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the ground spices and continue cooking for 6 to 8 minutes until the onions are very soft, stirring often so that the onions cook evenly. Then add the green peppers and cook until they're soft also, about 4 minutes.

When the onions and peppers are soft and have absorbed the spices, start adding the chicken, a little at a time. Stir the pieces until they're coated with the spices, and then add some more chicken. When all the chicken has been stirred in, pour the second, thinner batch of coconut milk over the chicken, add the salt and the drained potatoes, reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes.

When the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are tender, remove the cover and bring the liquid to a boil. Let the liquid boil for 3 to 5 minutes, until the sauce is thick. Then add the first batch of coconut milk and the coriander leaves. Bring the liquid back to a simmer, season with salt, and you're ready to serve.

To serve: Rice is an indispensable part of a South Indian meal, and it's a perfect starch to serve with chicken curry. Put on a pot of rice before you start cooking the onions so that the rice has time to cook and sit before the chicken is ready. Serve thin, round chapati breads to scoop up the sauce. Finally, a dab of chutney, yogurt raita, or a hot pickle adds another flavor to the plate.

Variations
I love the taste of coconutit has been a part of my diet since I was a baby. But even in the land of coconut trees, we've discovered that the tropical oil in coconut makes it unwise to eat every day. I frequently make this same curry, but instead of using coconut milk, I use yogurt to make the curry creamy and tangy. To do this, use water in place of the thin cup of coconut milk and yogurt in place of the the thick cup. Beat the yogurt before adding it and then mix it thoroughly with the chicken and onions to prevent it from curdling.

Many Indians are vegetarians and enjoy curries made with two or three vegetables. A nice combination is cauliflower, potatoes, and peas. Stir large florets of cauliflower into the spiced onions, and then add the coconut milk and potatoes.

From Fine Cooking - # 2

Submitted 6/13/05.
Source: From Fine Cooking - # 2
Submitted By: Meryl
starmer@excite.com
South Indian Chicken Curry