Chicken Korma (Restaurant Style)
Normally the curries I make tend to be closer to actual Indian food than the type of things you buy in a British Indian restaurant, but it’s nice to have a change sometimes. This is a pretty straightforward but very yummy Korma recipe.
First off, make a curry paste (sort of) by mixing together two tablespoons of ghee, half a teaspoon of cayenne, half a teaspoon of cumin, half a teaspoon of turmeric and half a teaspoon of cinnamon.
Next, we’re going to make a basic onion sauce. Quarter a large onion and put it in a pan with two shallots, about 2 inches of roughly chopped ginger, a clove of garlic and about two cups of water. Bring this to the boil then cover and simmer for about forty five minutes, topping up the water if need be. Set aside to cool for a bit.
Put the contents of the pan in a blender and whizz it until very smooth. Take about a ladleful of the sauce out and set it aside for the chicken.
Add to the remaining sauce one finger chilli, three cherry tomatoes, half a teaspoon of cumin, half a teaspoon of ground coriander a little bit of salt and a pinch or two of turmeric. Whizz this together until all smooth. Put it in a pan and bring it to the boil, skimming the gunge that rises to the top. Allow it to boil for a minute or two once it’s skimmed. This is your base sauce.
In a flat pan / wok, heat a tablespoon of ghee and season with some cardomom pods, cloves and a bit of cinammon. Drop in a couple of diced chicken breasts and stir until the chicken is sealed. Add the ladle of sauce you kept aside earlier and continue to fry until the water is boiling out and the sauce is reduced to practically nothing (you’ll get a nice sizzling sound when this happens). Fish the chicken out with a slotted spoon and set aside then empty the pan.
Add the curry paste to the pan and allow the spices to fry for a few seconds then pour in the base sauce. You want to get it really hot. Be warned, it’ll spit quite enthusiastically. Once it begins to reduce, add the chicken and continue to cook until the water has boiled off.
Add about half a block of grated creamed coconut and stir in. Add single cream, a little bit at a time, until your sauce is at the required thickness. Take care not to overheat the sauce once the cream starts to go in.
Throw in some fresh coriander. Done.
If you want to do a Vindaloo instead of a Korma, about the only thing you need to do is add a tablespoon of white wine vinegar, one teaspoon of cayenne pepper and two teaspoons of hot chilli powder to the base sauce, leave out the coconut, and add half a teaspoon of garam masala and some fresh coriander at the end. Maybe a bit less cream, depending on your taste.
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