Friday, March 22, 2013

Chicken and Tomato Curry (Tamatar Aur Murghi)

I'm sure everyone loves chicken curry, and you might already have your own favourite recipe. A few days ago, I've cooked this Chicken and Tomato Curry, recipe taken from one of the books that I've bought from Big Bad Wolf book sale, The Ultimate Indian Cookbook. I'm trying to cook at least one recipe, from each of the 22 cookbooks that I've bought! Oh yes, after that, start again with one more recipe from each! LOL!



Chicken and Tomato Curry, with potatoes. We love potatoes in curries, everyone in my house would spoon for the potatoes first! 


This recipe uses fresh tomatoes, which are peeled and chopped to pieces. To peel the tomatoes easily, score the top and base with a sharp knife about 1" across, with a mark "X". Place tomatoes in a bowl and pour very hot water(not necessarily boiling) to cover. Leave for about 3-4 minutes and peel off the skin which should come off easily. The tomatoes are then chopped to pieces and these are added in after the sauteing of some spices. They are further mashed using the back of the wooden spoon during cooking. I have used less water than the amount calls for in the recipe, since I'm using a non-stick saucepan, it actually needs less oil and water for most recipes that I've cooked. 
So adjust accordingly. 

A very tasty curry, the sweetness from the ripe tomatoes with a slight soury taste really came through, and I really like the taste of it. However I feel that the curry is a little diluted (see second photo above), even though I have used less amount of water, but yet it needed something else. So I have added 3 heaped tablespoons of curry powder, (I use Baba's brand, meat curry powder), and it tastes so much better after that. You may however chose not to add in the curry powder, it will still very good, but with a much milder taste, maybe start with a cup of water and slowly add on to the consistency you like.


 Very nice eaten with plain white rice.








I'm linking this post with Little Thumbs Up, where the ingredient for this month is Tomato, organised by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids and hosted by my little favourite DIY.

I'm sharing this as well with :



I have listed the changes I've made, in blue.
Chicken and Tomato Curry
(adapted from "The Ultimate Indian Cookbook", Meera Budhwar)
150gm (5oz) butter or ghee (4-5 tablespoons canola oil)
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed (5 garlic cloves, pounded)
15gm (1/2oz) fresh ginger, finely grated (2" piece, pounded)
1 green chilli, chopped
cardamoms seeds from 2 pods, crushed (I use 3 cardamom pods, leave whole)
3 cloves (5 cloves)
1in cinnamon stick (I use 2 sticks)
1 bay leaf
225gm (8oz) tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp ground coriander (I use 1-1/2 tbsp)
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
3 heaped tbsp curry powder (I use Baba's meat curry powder, my addition)
1 chicken, about 1.4kg (3lb) skinned, and jointed
900ml (1-1/2 pt) boiling water (I use about 3 cups hot water, in total)
225gm (8oz) potatoes, peeled and cubed (I use about 5 medium, peeled and quartered)
1/4 tsp ground pepper (I omit this)
1/4 tsp saffron (I omit this)
salt
leaves from 2 sprigs of coriander
  1. Heat the butter or ghee (or cooking oil) in a pan, add the onions, garlic, ginger, green chilli, cardamom seeds (or pods), cloves, cinnamon stick and bay leaf and fry until the onion is golden.
  2. Add the tomatoes and continue to cook, squashing it under the back of a wooden spoon to make a paste.
  3. Add the turmeric, chilli powder, paprika, ground coriander and fennel seeds and fry until the fat runs clear of the spices.
  4. Add the chicken pieces and fry for 5 minutes, then pour on the boiling water, add the potato and cook over a low heat, covered for 1 hour, until the chicken and the potato are done and the sauce has thickened. (Add chicken pieces, salt to taste, curry powder, stir for 5 minutes, pour 1-3/4 cups of hot water, stir, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and additional water if appeared dry, about 1/4 cups at a time, keep covered, stir from time to time, until potatoes are tender.)
  5. Sprinkle on the pepper, saffron, salt and coriander leaves.
#27/100


19 comments:

  1. Very nice recipe
    http://www.followfoodiee.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Joyce
    Thank you for sharing with us this delicious Indian Curry. I loves Indian curry because they are so aromatic and flavourful ~ full of spices. I am bookmarking this. Oh my, look at that list of ingredients for this recipe..... you added the curry powder, I guess it taste much more tasty, right?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Joyce , so that's the reason why our flat smells wonderful lol Your chicken curry makes me drool ! It looks very appetizing ..... buuuurp !

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amazing .....Looks so tempting and yummy :)
    shrutirasoi

    Today's Recipe
    Chicken Lasagna

    ReplyDelete
  5. Joyce, that reminds me I haven't cooked chicken curry for a long time! Your curry sure looks delicious and at my place the potatoes are the ones that disappear first too :) I must try this version for something different.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Joyce, I also bought so many (hubby says too many) cookbooks from BBW... so far I used about 5-6 of them, after this month I must also try more recipes from them.

    ReplyDelete
  7. We love curries - your flavors and spices here are fabulous!
    Mary x

    ReplyDelete
  8. this is really good, i'm serious! now you re making me hungry for some chicken curry!i've not tried bay leaf in curries!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'd probably reach for the potatoes too. Noticed cinnamon in here--I'm becoming a big fan of using cinnamon in savory dishes.

    Thank you for linking up this week. Hope you have a nice weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love potatoes in curry. Seldom cook curry chicken as my kids can't take heat. Yours look good. I always wanted to make chapati to go with curry chicken. Still no action so far :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. This looks like a fabulous curry, Joyce - lots of wonderful flavours. We always love potato in our curries too :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I have never had tomato curry and have been thinking of making some... really looks so delicious with that chicken.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What's great, with curry, it's you can add what you want, all you like. And tomatoes must be very good with it !

    ReplyDelete
  14. Se ve muy lindo e irresistible una gran delicia,abrazos y abrazos.

    ReplyDelete
  15. No wonder I can smell something's aromaticcaly delicious..so it was your curry! lol

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Joy,
    This is a great dish that I am sure we would enjoy! Hope you are having a great weekend and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
    Come Back Soon!
    Miz Helen

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi Joyce,

    I can tell that you are good with your curry cooking... Remember that you must cook lots of curry with curry paste as the theme for our June, Little Thumbs up!

    Zoe

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Joyce,
    I love all your tomato dish.
    They all looks so tasty.
    Especially this tomato curry. I love the idea of adding Baba's curry powder. It will be so much more flavour in this curry. Yum yum !!
    mui

    ReplyDelete
  19. Yummy that looks delicious, i love trying out different curry's and dish's

    Simon

    ReplyDelete