Chicken Korma

CHICKEN KORMA

4 Preparation Time :

Categories : Poultry Indian

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -- -- --

4 Chicken breast

-halves, boned

1/2 c Safflower oil

1/4 c Butter, clarified

-(the Indians call

-this stuff "ghee")

6 md Yellow onions

3 Cloves garlic, fresh

1 1/2 t Ginger

-ginger if you can

-find it)

20 Cloves, whole

12 Green cardamom seeds,

-whole, cracked

-(or less -- or use 2 t

-of ground cardamom)

5 Bay leaves

1 t Salt

1 1/2 t Coriander (ground)

1/2 t Cayenne pepper

-(or more to taste)

8 oz Yogurt, plain

1/2 c Water

1/2 c Milk

Cut the chicken breasts into bite-size pieces and set aside. Peel the

onions and chop them fine. You should have about 3 cups of onion. Mince the

garlic and add to the bowl of chopped onions.

In a big frypan that has a lid, heat the butter and oil, then saute the

onions and garlic for about 10 minutes, until the first hint of browning.

Use "medium-high" heat.

Crack the cardamom seeds between your fingers, just to get the shell open.

Add them to the pan. Add the ginger, cloves, bay leaves and salt. Saute

until the onions are nice and brown, about 5 more minutes.

Mix the coriander and red pepper with the yogurt. Add the yogurt to the

frypan, stirring as you pour, slowly enough that the onion doesn't stop

bubbling. It could take several minutes to do this, depending on the

diameter of your frypan. When the last of the yogurt dries up, add the

chicken pieces and brown them. Add 1/2 cup water, reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes.

Stir in the milk and turn off the heat. It needs to sit a few minutes to

let the flavors blend. The longer you let it sit after cooking, the better

it will taste (up to several hours).

While the chicken is sitting, cook some rice. I make saffron rice to go

with this dish.

Fish out the bay leaves and as many of the whole cloves as you can find,

before serving. Americans don't seem to like to eat whole cloves in their

food. Check to make sure it is moist enough (it should have the

consistency of applesauce). Reheat over low heat. Serve.

NOTES:

Indian braised chicken with onions, cloves and ginger -- I learned to

like Indian food in London, where delicious Indian food can be had in

simple restaurants at hamburger prices and the fare at fancy places ranks

among the finest food on Earth. Back in America, to satisfy my new craving

for good Indian food I had to learn to cook it myself. This is a

Friday-night supper dish in our family, too complex for a weekday meal, and too plain to serve to company.

Indian food is often quite elaborate, so by their standards this is a fast

and simple dish. It is a classical Indian recipe, found in many cookbooks.

Indians put a lot more salt in their cooking than this recipe calls for;

if you want to make it more authentic you should double the salt. Indians

also don't like chicken skin and will go to great lengths to prevent even

small pieces of chicken skin from getting into the food. I rather like

chicken skin myself, and I don't try very hard to keep it out of this dish.

If you can't find green cardamom seeds, don't bother using white ones,

they've been bleached and processed and don't have much flavor left. Use

ground cardamom instead.

: Difficulty: moderate (timing is somewhat important)

: Time: 1 hour plus "sitting time."

: Precision: Approximate measurement OK.

: Brian Reid decwrl!glacier!reid

: Stanford reid

SU-Glacier.ARPA

: Palo Alto, California

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