Okay so start your rice. I'm spoiled, I have a Zojirushi rice maker. Wow, don't make me say that name though, cuz it just gets SLAUGHTERED. But it's a great machine, totally worth it, and that's not only because I'm lazy!
Then fling your spices, all of them, into some fat with the onions. Sautee until the onions are all limp and thinking about tanning but can't be bothered to go to the salon. The spices will smell MAHVELOUS dahling just MAHVELOUS. Sauteeing them in oil is called 'blooming' them and my glasses always fog up when I do this cuz I love to hang over the pot and SNIFFFFFFFahhhhhh.
Glug in your broth, cover that bad boy, bring to a deliciously fragrant simmer, and cruelly ignore it for at least 90 minutes. I don't know what it is about this step, but the slow constant simmer turns a good curry into a "fall down, curl protectively around the bowl, and growl at all intruders" great curry.
Dump that bad boy through a sieve, slosh the sauce back into the pot, and slop the sieved bits into a bowl. Then, sucking in the fragrance all the way, go put your feet up and pick out the whole spices. Biting into a whole cardamom pod is a bit much!
Sling the remaining onion bits back into the sauce and plop in the yogurt or coconut milk . If you like a thicker curry, add almond powder. If you want it thinner...well...dealer's choice!
At this point I usually handblenderize the sauce because it makes the sauce thicker and because I love handblenderizing. ) :)
Shovel a couple handfuls of slivered almonds into the pot -- the texture of simmered almonds is amazingly delicate and unforgettable, not to mention the taste.
While it's coming back up to a simmer, prep your chicken and veggies.
Cook your chicken and veg in the sauce. I usually plop in the chicken thighs, then bring it back to a simmer, then scraaaaape the cut raw veggies off the cutting board, and then JUST before the veggies and chicken are done, chuck in the canned veggies.
Whack some rice into a bowl, lob on a chicken thigh, then scoop out some veg and sauce and chunk it over the whole lot.
Try not to get sauce on your nose when you lick your bowl. Chin's okay though. :)
