So here goes. First of all you need your herbs, can't cook curry curry without herbs. Its rather simple for this chicken curry, you just need the following.
Fennels seeds
Curry leaves
As for your other ingredients, you need,
- Shallots, 3 or 4 small ones will do, thinly sliced
- Garlic, 1 or 2 cloves, thinly sliced
- Potatoes, 2 or 3, chopped into cubes
- Two chicken thighs, cleaned and chopped
- One packet of chicken curry powder ( Adabi, alagappa's, babas etc whichever floats your boat :) )
- Half a cup of coconut milk
Now that you got all that, its time to turn all that into a nice bowl of chicken curry.
1. Firstly, as always, heat up some oil in a frying pan or a wok. Do not skimp on the oil as its important to help all the ingredients you're about to put in come together and bring out the flavour. I skimped on oil once, HUGE disaster.
2. Add in the fennel seeds first. These herbs are very fragrant and rich in flavour so you don't need a whole lot. About 2 teaspoons will do. Give it a quick stir and make sure the heat is not on high as they char easily. Once you can smell fragrance of the fennel seeds, add in the curry leaves.
3. Now, add in the chopped onions and garlic. Stir fry it until it is light yellow in colour. Then, add in the potatoes.
4. The chicken thighs come next. Add them into pan and give it a good stir fry. Making sure to mix in all the ingredients with the chicken thighs as you stir it. Do this until the chicken meat is rather white in colour.
5. Then, comes my favourite part, adding in the curry powder. It would be best to pre-mix the curry powder with some water to make it into a paste. Chuck that in and the rinse too. Gotta get all that awesome-ness in there. The colour of the curry and the smell that comes with it, is what makes it fun to cook. :)
6. Give it a good stir. Mixing in all the goodness of the curry powder with the chicken. Add in the coconut milk as well. If its too thick at this point, you can add some water as well.
7. Now let it simmer for a good 10 - 15 minutes, stirring it from time to time and enjoy the smell filling up your kitchen.
8. And of course, last but least, salt to taste. You can add a little sugar as well to balance out the flavours.
9. When you got it tasting to your liking, SERVE! :) I like it with some soy sauce and a nice fried egg, sunny side up.
Voila!:)
And thats about it. Your simple, humble bowl of chicken curry. It may not be the most heavenly tasting one you have ever had, but hey, if you're a traveller, university student or you just got a serious craving with a limited amount of time, it'll do. :)
By, Ben
