Chicken Lovers

Cardamon Chicken

Of all the chicken curries from southern India I have tried, this cardamom chicken is right up there with the best of them. The sauce is highly aromatic – flavoured with four heaping tablespoons of cardamom seed powder. The coconut milk and thick, smooth yoghurt help create a creamy sauce that is far better than most curry houses have on offer.

This is quite an old recipe which would not have originally included the green chili peppers. These, however, pack a punch that is simply too good to leave out so I have included them here just as they are in most traditional Indian restaurants and homes in southern India.

I usually double this recipe even if I am just making it for my family. It freezes very well and is nice to bring out after a hard day’s work.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 20 minutes plus marinading time Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 large chicken cut into eight pieces

The seeds of 25 black cardamom pods

5 cloves garlic

1 two inch piece of ginger – grated

1 Tablespoon freshly ground black pepper Rind and juice of two lemons

3 Tablespoons ghee or vegetable oil

400ml (1 1/2 cups) coconut milk

300ml(1 1/4 cup) plain yogurt

6 hot green chilies cut in half lengthwise

1 bunch finely chopped coriander leaves

Method

Remove all the seeds from the cardamom pods. Put the seeds in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar and grind to a fine powder. You want four good tablespoons or more to taste.

In a blender, blend the cardamom powder, garlic, ginger, lemon rind and black pepper and just enough of the yogurt to make a paste.

Cover the chicken pieces with the paste and allow to marinade for at least two hours or over night. The longer the better.

In a large heavy based pan, heat the ghee or oil.

Brown the chicken pieces in the ghee. You may need to do this in batches.

Add the coconut milk, the rest of the yogurt, the chilies and most of the chopped coriander to the chicken and bring to a boil.

Allow to simmer for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve on top of white or saffron rice sprinkled with chopped coriander.