Wednesday 25 August 2010

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'

44 comments:

Satya said...

Love the look of the chicken gravy .. yummy n tempting..

Satya
http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

Tanvi said...

Tempting curry with coconut milk!As usual lovely clicks too!

Chetana Suvarna Ganatra said...

Te recipe amuses me wit yogurt n coconut milk both...never tried both together, but de result looks equally pleasing...will try next time.
Cheers.

Satrupa said...

I am sure your guests would have licked fingers and smacked their lips !! Yum yum yum

Cheers n Happy Cooking,
Satrupa
http://satrupa-foodforthought.blogspot.com

GB said...

don't fret. i can add a few really good ones to your list. trust me they won't taste like anything else you've had..........just wait a few days for me to get back on my toes. :)

Unknown said...

Perfect looking curry...drooling over it

Torviewtoronto said...

lovely colour delicious

aipi said...

Congrats on your new discovery!:)
Cooking is fun isn't it!

Suji said...

Adipoli chicken curry analo, Why do you even care about trying to make another curry NIsha, this looks delish..Love the pics tto...

Shabs.. said...

That look slike a creamy curry, where did u get all that creaminess from even without adding coconut. It looks yummy,almost like a butter chicken.After going thru ur recipe, i feel the tanginess would be from tomatoes and lemon. I wouldnt add 3 tomatoes for this curry and 2 tbsp of lemon juice. Try reducing to 2 tomatoes and may be a teaspoon or 2 of lemon juice. You should be able to get off that sour taste...
BTW, i too need 100's of trials to get a curry right,unlike for dessserts, sweets and any continental dishes which i can perfect quite quick...What's all with this Indian cooking, Gawd!I wouldnt laugh nish, i know it's terrible...lol...
BTW, loved ut pic!

Monet said...

I think Indian food can be very hard to master if you didn't grow up making/eating it. I know that I sure struggle! This curry looks like quite the success though. Congrats!

Pointblank said...

Finallyyy, u have another chicken curry to ur list :).. di, post the recipe for that carrot-peas pulao also... it looks nice :)

Unknown said...

Scrummy chicken curry....my chicken curry never looks so tasty and tempting...:(

Pavithra Srihari said...

wow... yum yumm ... looks so perfect .. very similar to nilgiri kurma but then we use green chillies for that .. am just drooling ..loved ur first pic a lot

Priya Suresh said...

The name itself makes me drool, beautiful clicks..

notyet100 said...

slurp ,.,.;-)

Vrinda said...

Yummy n creamy chicken curry...nice pics...

TREAT AND TRICK said...

Great click, looks perfect and delicious...

Suman Singh said...

never made chicken curry with yogurt and coconut milk together..that curry looks mouth watering..slurpp!

Unknown said...

I too loved the recipe and the pics!! It sounds so very different from the usual chicken curry recipe that I prepare. Will surely give it a try sometime.

Namitha said...

I love the chicken curry with coconut milk....would surely be a relief from the normal boring chicken curry :-)

Srivalli said...

Beautiful pictures..first time here..will check around..:)

Nithu said...

Wow! looks so good and tempting

Pravs said...

Love the color of the gravy..yum !

Fathima said...

This one looks delicious and creamy.... love the first picture!

Pavithra Elangovan said...

OMG the pictures are tempting me more beautiful dish too... THe header so soooooooooo good.

Hayley said...

wow..wow..wow..what a dish and love all the pics !

valerie from familyblog said...

nice receipe !

Unknown said...

Amazing Chick curry...any idea why it is called as ooty club chicken curry? out of curiosity? as Ooty is small beautiful city near my home town :)

Radhika said...

I hear you. I have tried many recipes for chicken curry, but I am more comfortable using my Mom's recipe. Ooty club chicken curry sounds different and looks yumm.

Cool Lassi(e) said...

Chicken looks mouthwatering. But I have to say, I am still eying the date pudding in the previous post. I have to say that it has become my most favorite post in your blog.

Sarah Naveen said...

Beautiful clicks..looks so delicious..

Koek! said...

Well you've convinced me... I'll just have to try this!
Robyn

Lawyer Loves Lunch said...

I'm so glad you posted this! I feel like I'm still missing that one perfect chicken curry recipe?! Perhaps this one is it. It certainly looks good :)

PS: Love the blog's new look!

Sunitha said...

Awesome pictures! Nice depth of field, bright and crisp picture.

Soma said...

This recipe sounds heavenly! very beautifully presented too.

Kulsum@JourneyKitchen said...

I love that step where you puree coriander leaves with the masala. I often do that and also go about suggesting people to do it specially when you pair it with coconut milk ;) More than the leaves I try to use the coriander soft stalks for this and retain leaves for garnishing.

This looks great!

Nisha said...

Hi Nisha,

I tried this chicken curry and my hubby liked it.. it came out good and i made the peas and carrot pulav too..
The curry was a bit tangy but we liked ..I added coconut milk so it was little more lighter color than your pic more towards a browny side..when i try next time i am planning to reduce the tomato to 2 , lemon juice to 1 tsp and whipping cream instead of coconut milk.
Thanks for the recipe...

Unknown said...

Hi Nisha,

Just made this chicken curry. Came out very well! my family love it..thx for sharing..i will post it soon in my blog.

Anonymous said...

hey your blog design is very nice, neat and fresh and with updated content, make people feel peace and I always like browsing your site.

- Thomas

Dori said...

Looks delicious!

Unknown said...

Wow, that looks tempting and mouthwatering. I like my chicken curry thick, rich and creamy and this looks really perfect! I would love to add this to my Indian recipes Pinterest board. May I?

Cheers!

Unknown said...

Oh, my! That looks delicious! I'll give this a try. I just love Indian food.

sreya said...

I had Tried this Chicken Curry recipe at my home. It was really good and very tasty. thanks for the recipe sharing.