Chicken Curry from scratch

The beauty of Indian cuisine is the complex yet balanced flavor from spices and ingredients, and I believe you can find this beauty best in a bowl of curry dish.

"Curry" means simply "sauce", "soup" or "stew" - it doesn't mean a specific tree, fruit or spice. The "curry powder" you can find in grocery store is just a spice blend, which usually includes cumin, turmeric, coriander and red pepper. "Curry leaf" is leaf from curry tree but this tree has nothing to do with any of those spices in curry powder. The name of "curry leaf" in Tamil (one of south Indian languages), means "leaf that is used to make curry" - curry leaf is just a herb which is often used in curry dishes in south India. Confusing names... but interesting, isn't it?

I am not a master of Indian cuisine, and I just used one of the most simple combination of the spices as possible for the following curry recipe. I think you can understand more about each spices and how they affect each other's flavor by making curry from scratch rather than using a store bought curry powder.


Chicken Curry from scratch
(Yield: 4 servings / Cooking time: 1.5 hour)


Ingredients:

Chicken Curry
+ 3-4 chicken thigh, boneless
+ 1 onion, small diced
+ 2 tomatoes, small diced
+ 20 fresh curry leaves*
+ 4-5 garlic cloves, minced
+ 1 Tbsp minced ginger
+ 1 tsp cumin seeds
+ 1 tsp yellow turmeric powder
+ 1 tsp black peppercorns, ground
+ 1/2 tsp coriander seeds, ground
+ 1 Tbsp tamarind pulp**
+ 1.5 cups of water
+ neutral oil (e.g. canola oil or grape seed oil)
+ salt

* You can buy fresh curry leaves from Indian grocery stores or some Southeast Asian grocery stores. If you cannot find fresh curry leaf, you can substitute it with dried curry leaf. If you cannot find dried curry leaf, please use fresh Thai basil. If you cannot find Thai basil, you can use fresh basil. If you cannot even find fresh basil, you can use little bit of dried basil. Of course... the taste will be definitely different.

** You can buy tamarind pulp, or you can dilute thick tamarind paste into watery tamarind pulp. Or, you can buy dried tamarind, and make your own tamarind pulp. I found the following YouTube video to show how to make tamarind pulp out of dried tamarind. Click here to watch the video.

Couscous*
+ 1 box of instant couscous - I used Near East Original Plain Couscous.
+ a handful of cilantro leaves - If you don't like cilantro, please replace it with scallion.
+ 1 oz golden raisin (a small snack box)
+ water (according to the couscous box instruction)
+ salt



* Of course, you can serve the chicken curry with Indian style basmati rice. I cooked instant couscous instead of rice, just because it is much easier and quicker.

Procedures:

1. Prepare the ingredients for chicken curry as follows:

- Coriander seeds and black peppercorns: Ground coarsely with spice grinder (or coffee grinder).


- Onion & tomatoes: Diced in small pieces. you don't need to make exact dices.
- Garlic cloves & ginger: Peel and mince finely.

Before prep

I forgot to take a picture of curry leaves... you can see them in the next "after prep" picture.

After prep


2. Remove skin, bones and any excess fat from chicken thighs and cut the meat into bite sizes (probably 5-4 pieces from a thigh). Season the chicken with enough salt. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.


3. In a large pan, drizzle oil over medium heat and when the oil is hot, add cumin seeds. Please be careful with the heat. We don't want screaming hot. Most of the spices can be easily burned, and once the spices are burned, it will taste bitter.


4. Add curry leaves, only the leaves. Stir with a wooden spoon until you can smell the aroma of cumin and curry leaves.


5. Add chopped onions. Cook until the onions are translucent.


6. Add minced garlic and ginger, and stir with a wooden spoon until you can smell the sweetness of ginger and garlic. When you add ginger and garlic, you will smell only the strong raw aroma. As the ginger and garlic cook, they release the sweet smell.


7. Add ground coriander and black peppercorns. Cook with continuous stirring until all the spices are mixed together.


8. Add yellow turmeric powder. Cook with continuous stirring until all the spices are mixed together.


9. Add chopped tomatoes, and season with salt. Cook until all the tomatoes soften and release juices.


10. Add chicken thigh and tamarind pulp. Mix all together.


11. Pour 1.5 cups of cold water. Raise the heat and when the water starts boiling, reduce the heat to mid-low and simmer the curry for 15 minutes covered with a lid.



While the curry is simmering, prepare the couscous.
Instant couscous has instructions on the package. Boil water and simply pour the hot water over couscous and wrap tightly for a few minutes. In my couscous, I added golden raisin before I pour the water, and added cilantro leaves after.

12. Pour hot water to couscous + golden raisin. Season with a bit of salt and wrap tightly.


13. After 5 minutes, fluff the cooked couscous with a fork so there will be no lumps of couscous. It may seem a bit wet at first, but usually after a few minutes, the couscous will absorb the rest of water or the water will evaporate.


14. Add cilantro leaves. You can use scallions if you don't like cilantro.



Your quick and easy couscous is ready. Okay... now back to the chicken curry!


15. After 15 minutes, the chicken curry is ready. Taste it, and adjust seasoning if needed.



You can either serve the couscous and chicken curry separately as family style, or serve individual portion in a bowl.


Enjoy~