Miles Collins

A chicken curry recipe for the home cook

Here’s a recipe for a chicken curry I knocked up in twenty minutes tonight, in later posts I shall offer alternative recipes based mainly on degrees of skill, time, cost etc. This one is for the intermediate cook who will already have whole spices in their store cupboard and be familiar with ingredients such as lemongrass and coconut milk.

When I cook Asian food at the restaurant then I only ever use authentic recipes, I don’t do fusion because I like to recreate an exact taste sensation for a customer who may have travelled to those parts. When cooking for myself, however I tend to diversify and cook a dish based on what I fancy eating.

For example with this curry I have taken the base ingredients of a thai curry and added elements of malay and indian food simply because I like that combination of ingredients. You can chop and change as you wish, chilli hot or not? just add or subtract accordingly.

First job is to stick some music on! Tonight was a Caesar Mariano & CIA remix I first heard in a great bar in Singapore and always gets me in the mood for Asian food. Second job, pour yourself a glass of riesling, a calm approach is what is needed here.

Soak three or four dried red chillies in boiling water until soft, reserve the water. In a pestle and mortar pound the following spices which you have previously warmed in a dry pan until nutty aromas have filled the kitchen:

1&1/2 tsp coriander/cilantro seeds 3-4 cloves 2tsp cumin seeds a tsp sized stick of cinnamon 1/2 tsp black peppercorns, 5 cardomom pods seeded, tsp blanched peanuts or cashew nuts.

Take a stick of lemongrass and finely chop the bulbous part, hang on to the long, thin end. Chop two cloves of garlic and a thumb sized piece of ginger. Repeat with the chillies and two tablespoons of fresh coriander. Combine the whole lot and puree, add the dry spice mix and a tsp of dried shrimp paste if you’ve got any. Add a little of the chilli soaking water to ease blending if needed.

Open a can of coconut milk and spoon the thick part into a wide bottomed pan. Heat gently and stir with the piece of lemongrass to impart the flavour-then give up and use a spoon. Stir frequently to avoid burning, you want the milk to seperate and give the appearance of cat sick, this is good.

When the oil has seperated from the milk stir in a couple of spoons of the red/brown spice paste, chuck in a couple of torn lime leaves and cook gently. The spices need time to cook out to remove the harshness of the garlic and chilli. Add a glug of fish sauce and a spoon of palm or caster sugar.

Stir in the remaining coconut milk followed by the sliced chicken breast. Add the leftover lemongrass and cook until the chicken is done and everything has blended into a harmonious curry.

Add fresh chopped coriander/cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice-do not use plastic lemon or lime juice because I will find out and pay you a visit.

Serve with sticky rice. Enjoy!