Fiji-indian Chicken Curry

Total Time: 50 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 4 -5 lbs chicken
• 2 onions
• 10 garlic cloves (lesun)
• 1 tablespoon ginger (adrak)
• 2 serrano peppers
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (sarso)
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed (jeera)
• 1 cinnamon stick (dalchini)
• 4 -5 cardamom (elaichi)
• 2 -3 cloves (lavang)
• 5 -6 curry leaves (tej pati)
• 3 tablespoons garam masala
• 1 tablespoon turmeric (haldi)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 cup fresh coriander (dhania)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 (400 ml) can chicken stock (optional)

Recipe

• 1 chop chicken into bit size stewing pieces.
• 2 finely chop 1 onion and slice the other onion and set aside.
• 3 combine garlic, serrano chillies, ginger in mortar and pestle and pound until it becomes a paste. add 1 teaspoon salt to help make paste and so garlic doesn't fly away on you. you can also use a blender, but i find the mortar and pestle makes it more pasty without wasting any flavour from garlic.
• 4 add garam masala, turmeric and some water to the garlic paste and mix to make a curry paste and set aside.should be a runny consistency.
• 5 heat canola oil in stewing pot.
• 6 add cinnamon stick, mustard seed, cloves, cardamon seeds with shells removed and cummin to pot. stir until seeds pop.
• 7 add curry leaves. watch out for oil splatter.
• 8 add finely chopped onions and cook until well browned but do not burn. (the more brown, the more flavor).
• 9 add curry paste and stir for a few minutes until garlic is well browned. should be a nice yellowish color.
• 10 add chicken and half of sliced onion and a punch of salt. if you are adding chicken stock later on, add less salt.
• 11 stir and let cook until water comes out of chicken.
• 12 cook until water evaporates and fry the chicken until slightly browned approximately 20 minutes for fryer chicken, longer for stewing or freerange.
• 13 stir in remaining sliced onion.
• 14 if adding chicken stock add it now and bring to boil. this is great for when you have a cold. this is indo-fijian chicken soup for the soul.
• 15 if you are health conscious, at this point i usually remove the excess fat that floats on top of the curry. up to you if you want to leave it in, more flavor.
• 16 add chopped coriander leaves and lemon juice. remove from heat.
• 17 serve over rice. enjoy! ;-).