Chicken curry is probably one of the easiest to cook but most difficult to master, at least I think so. I can’t seem to get the right consistency. Sometimes it’s too thick that you can taste the curry paste which makes eating it with rice not such an exciting thought. Sometimes it’s too thin, that it seems more like spiced water. And I really don’t like the chicken curry with the oil floating on the top no matter how good it tastes. So finally when I succeeded with this recipe, I just had to put it up here. It’s not just the recipe that made it good. I kept in mind some tips about cooking chicken I learnt along the way. MMMM….this curry was soo good. Not oily, not too thick, not too spicy, not too thin ….it was “just right” in Goldilock’s words. And we had it with rice for lunch and Roti Jala for dinner. Maybe I’ll have another go at it tomorrow!

Ingredients:
1/2  chicken, cut into chunks
2 potatoes, cut quarters
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp meat curry powder (Baba’s Meat Curry)
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 cup water
1 tsp brown sugar
salt to taste

For frying:
1/2 large onion, sliced
2 cardamom, crushed
3 cloves
1 piece cinnamon stick
1 sprig curry leaves
2 tbsp ghee

Grind into a paste:
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
2 inch ginger

Method:

1. Heat ghee in a pot and fry sliced onion, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon stick, curry leaves.
2. Mix curry powder and the blended ingredients in a bowl. Add into the pot and stir until color changes and it becomes fragrant.
3. Add 1/2 cup of water and keep stirring.
4. Add chicken and cover the pot. When the chicken is no longer pink, add potatoes. There should be enough water to cover 3/4 of the chicken and potatoes.
5. Add more water from the remaining amount if necessary. Cook until the potatoes are tender.
6. Add coconut milk and, tomatoes and sugar. When it starts to bubble, turn off the heat.
7. Serve hot with bread or rice.

Tips:

• When cooking chicken, remember that the chicken will release juices. When adding water to the curry, keep this is mind so that the curry will not be too thin.
• Depending on how hot you want the curry to be, add a green chili slit in half to add to the ‘kick’ or ‘punch’
• The curry will taste different when using chicken with skin and without skin. But I prefer the healthier no skin version.
• Instead of grinding, pounding the ingredients with a mortar and pestle will be more work but worth the taste if you have the time.