In Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, the chef and author tells us amateur food mechanics that the big difference between home-cooked and high-class restaurant food is that the latter is loaded with salt and butter. Seems so easy, once you get the inside story. Sadly, both these astonishing flavour enhancers are bad news in excess, but since sybarites excess is the only way to go for most, this week’s curry adventure takes you right into the no-go zone. And this is how you get there …
To make a North Indian chicken and tomato curry for four, you will need:
• 8-12 chicken thighs
• Sunflower or canola oil
For the sauce:
• 1kg big tomatoes
• 120g butter
• ½ teaspoon Osman’s garam masala
• 2 sprigs curry leaves
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
For the marinade:
• ½ teaspoon dhania (coriander) seeds
• ½ teaspoon jeera (cumin) seeds
• ½ teaspoon Osman’s garam masala
• 2 small red chillies
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 500ml plain yoghurt
• 2 tablespoons lime or lemon juice
• 8 to 10 cloves of garlic
• 30mm fresh root ginger
Shamelessly flavourful curry
First, a word on quantities. Since chicken thighs don’t conform to a standard measurement, I’ve suggested a healthy three thighs per person. Garlic is a truly wonderful herb which fills some new cooks with fear and trembling. Their anxieties are all related to curious Western ideas about fresh breath. Take courage and lay on the garlic. It intensifies the flavour and, for some palates, sweetens the experience. If you use one clove, you may as well use eight, as this recipe suggests. Moving on, we combine the ingredients for the marinade. Peel and finely mince the garlic, ginger and chillies, grind the spices to dust in an electric grinder, then mix with the lemon juice and yoghurt in a bowl. Add the chicken thighs to the mixture and stir to ensure that all are well-coated. Let them marinade for an hour or two, with the bowl covered. N ext, the tomato-based sauce. I suggested large tomatoes to speed up the peeling process. You can hasten this by blanching them in boiling water for 60 seconds, after which only a little effort is required to slide off the skins. Then mash the tomatoes to pulp and cook over a low heat in a frying pan to lose some of the liquid. Add the butter and the spices. When the butter has melted into the mix, taste it. If too sour, add the brown sugar a little at a time to counteract the acidity. Remove from the hob and cover the pan. Heat a couple of tablespoons of sunflower or canola oil in a heavy-bottomed stainless steel frying pan. Keeping the heat on a low simmer, add the chicken and its marinade and let cook until done. Turn the thighs from time to time and stir well to prevent adhesions and burning. A t the last moment, add the tomato-based sauce, stir it in well and serve with freshly made Basmati rice. Raita salad, made from thinly sliced cucumbers served in plain yoghurt and ornamented by a pinch or two of garam masala, is a pleasing accompaniment. This meal deserves a great beer like an imported ice-cold pilsener, and sometimes even two. – David Basckin |fw
