The Recipe: How to Make Easy Chicken Curry
Easy Chicken Curry Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 bone-in chicken breasts or pieces
- vegetable oil (enough to coat pan)
- 2 chopped onions, medium sized yellow
- 4 minced garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp. minced fresh ginger
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 tsp. turmeric
- 2-3 tbsp. curry powder (see aside)
- 1 15 oz. can of coconut milk (you can use the reduced fat type if you prefer)
- 2 C. chicken stock
- 2-3 cinnamon sticks
- Dash of each: cayenne pepper, anise, nutmeg and ground cloves
The Recipe
Instructions
Using a heavy skillet and enough oil to coat the pan, cook chicken pieces over medium-high heat until brown. Remove chicken and set aside. Add chopped onion, garlic and ginger and sauté until tender. Reduce heat and add cumin, turmeric and curry, stirring constantly. The mixure will make a paste and the curry will become fragrant. Add coconut milk, chicken broth, cinnamon sticks and chicken. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked. Add 5 remaining ingredients to taste. Serve over jasmine or your favorite white rice. Garnish with lemon slices and chutney if desired. Sweet peas are a nice accompaniment with this dish.
You can use a prepackaged curry powder or make your own using the following ingredients:
- cumin
- coriander
- tumeric
- ginger
- cardamom
- garlic
- ground mustard seeds
- white pepper
An Introduction to Curry
Originally from India, the use of curry is now common in the cuisine of many countries such as Thailand, China, and Japan, The word "curry" actually translates to "sauce" but is used in Western culture to describe a blend of fragrant spices that almost always includes cumin and the ground seeds of the cilantro plant, otherwise known as coriander. There are many different types of curry but for the purpose of this article, I will divide them into three main groups by color: yellow, red and green curry.
Yellow, Red and Green Curry
Yellow curries are often available as a prepackaged spice blend and simply called "curry powder" in Western cultures. Curry powder is very versatile and can be used in Indian, Thai and many other recipes. Yellow curries from India are also called garam masala and can vary greatly from one version to the next. Thai yellow curry is called kaeng kariand and is usually blended with coconut milk, lemon grass and other spices.
One popular type of red curry is commonly called Madras curry because it originated from the southern city of India that was once called Madras, but is now named Chennai. Red curry is red because it contains ground red chilies; it can be very hot. Red curry is excellent when used with chicken, lamb, beef or vegetables such as lentils.
Green curry is mostly used in Thai recipes and is a delicious blend of herbs and spices including cilantro, lemon grass and green chilies. Green curry is generally (but not always) more mild and sweet than other curries. Also quite versatile, green curry can be used with meats, fish or vegetables.
Yellow Curries
The main ingredients in yellow curries:
- cumin
- coriander
- turmeric
- cayenne
- ginger
- garlic
- cinnamon
Red Curries
The main ingredients in red curries:
- cumin
- coriander
- mustard
- fennel
- cardamom
- turmeric
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
- cloves
- ginger
- ground red chilies or cayenne
Green Curries
The main ingredients in green curries:
- cumin
- coriander
- cilantro
- galangal
- green chilies
- lemon grass
- red chilies