Cape Malay Chicken Curry

Ingredients

  • 1 Onion
  • Pure Virgin Olive Oil
  • Coriander seeds
  • Hot Pepper Flakes
  • Fennel Seeds
  • Ground Cumin
  • Fresh Ginger
  • Turmeric
  • Black Pepper corns
  • Cardamom Pods
  • Cinnamon
  • Garam Masala (Mild)
  • 1 400g  can of Whole Tomatoes
  • Fresh Garlic
  • Brown Sugar
  • 1 Lemon
  • Course Salt
  • 250ml Fresh Cream
  • Basmati Rice

Method

  1. To start with, I put the rice into water with a healthy pinch of salt to soak for 20 minutes or so.
  2. I then peel and chop the ginger. Mixing all the spices together in a Pestel & Mortar or grinder until fine. I use my coffe bean grinder which gets it really fine. And mix together with the ginger.
  3. Then heat the oil in a pot of large pan, add the finely chopped onions over a high heat, stirring for a couple of minutes until they start to soften. I then add the spices and stir them into the oil to release flavours etc. The spice soaks up the oil, so I do sometimes add a bit more Olive Oil at this stage. I leave this around 2 minutes and then add the tin of tomatoes and stir them in, and just bring it to a slow boil.
  4. I then cut up the Chicken into stripes, add the Chicken Pieces, and stir them in well to make sure that they are totally mixed into the spices and sauce, and keep the heat on full whack until boiling. I then turn the heat right down and let that simmer for 20 minutes.    
  5. While that’s cooking, I bring the rice to the boil, and immediately turn it down to 1, and leave close the lid and leave for 15 minutes, at which point I turn the heat off altogether leaving the lid on until the chicken is done.
  6. After 20 or so minutes, I add the juice from 1 lemon, garlic, brown sugar and salt to taste.
  7. I then let it simmer for a further 15 to 20 minutes, stirring now and then, and obviously tasting and seasoning if necessary.
  8. The meal is now done, and ready to serve when the rice is done. I do quite like to let it stand for an hour or so before serving, as it seems to bring out the spices and flavour. If I have time, I delay the making of the rice to allow for this. In the Cook-off we do have 3 hours, so I will have plenty of time to play around with time.
  9. Served with Basmati Rice, simply amazingly delicious.