Anglo-Indian chicken curry (aka Ooty Club Chicken Curry)

I may be able to make Chicken Cordon Bleu or layer a cake and frost it, but I just cannot make a decent enough chicken curry till today. Laugh all you want, but seriously, the only chicken curry I know is this pressure cooker chicken curry which tastes the same whatever changes I make, or whichever masala I use. I have seem umpteen recipes on all your blogs and always bookmark it, and some I've even tried...but never does it look or taste half as good as how it should be..it just ends up tasting like the pressure cooker curry. So I finally gave up on trying new chicken curry recipes and decided to just stick to what I knew...not to mention how easy it was just mixing together everything in the cooker without washing and cleaning 10 other utensils.
That is when one of Ro's uncles forwarded a mail to him with a recipe for the 'Ooty club chicken curry' and Ro forwarded it to me (probably desperate and thinking I would try a new chicken recipe, at least now). I didn't even bother going through it till last Saturday, when I had guests over, and since I didn't have enough time to research and figure out a new recipe, I decided to use the recipe Ro's uncle had passed on. He adds that this recipe has also appeared in 'Curries & Bugles: A Cookbook of the Raj' by Jennifer Brennan.

I started off with full enthusiasm, and there....the first goof up (which I shall not elaborate), but decided to continue whatsoever. I was sceptical as to how it would turn out, and even more because I had guests over and couldn't just adjust with what I whipped up. The effort and the unnecessary freak out sessions were well paid off with this beautiful curry, which I paired with a carrot and pea pulao, pappad, raita and pickle. Thanks to A uncle, I now have one more chicken curry to add to the list.

Chicken- 1kg, bone in pieces, cleaned and skinned (I used chicken thighs)

Onion- 1 large, peeled and chopped

Coriander leaves- a bunch, washed and chopped (go easy on this)

Garlic- 4 cloves, peeled and chopped

Ginger- 1 inch long piece, peeled and chopped + enough to garnish

Tomatoes- 3 large, peeled and chopped

Turmeric powder- 1 tsp

Garam masala- 2 tsp

Chilly powder- 1 tsp

Plain curd- 2 tbsp

Coconut milk- 1/4 to 1/2 cup

Lemon juice- 2 tbsp (reduce this to about 1 tbsp or even half)

Oil/ ghee- 2 tbsp

Salt- to taste

Blend together onion, coriander leaves, ginger and garlic to a puree in a blender.

Add turmeric powder, garam masala, chilli powder and salt, mix well.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the oil/ghee on medium heat and cook the paste, stirring continuously and scraping the bottom of the pan, for about 5 minutes or till the raw smell disappears.

Add the chopped tomatoes and the curds and stir well.

Wait till the oils separate and put in the chicken pieces. Toss it around till they are well coated with the masala...for about 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the chicken is tender (I took about 15 to 20 minutes)

Uncover the chicken and increase heat as necessary to evaporate any remaining liquid.

Add the coconut milk and lime juice and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring well.

Transfer the curry into a serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves if using.

Notes: I ended up using quite a bit of coriander leaves for the puree and so it was bitter. I freaked out because of this, but then evened it out with about a half tsp of sugar (I know I'm smart) and it just disappeared.

This is not a very spicy curry, but I guess you can add more chilly powder if you need it hot.

I poured a little water to get a thicker gravy since I didn't have coconut milk. The second time i made it, I replaced coconut milk with single cream and i think it tasted even better
The trick is to cook it till the oils release ..that too on low heat. yup you need patience, but well worth for a kick ass curry.


Sending this to Divya's event 'Show me your Curry'