As promised, a quick South Indian chicken curry:
- Take a large pot (4 quart or so) and put enough oil in to cover the bottom.
- Turn it up to medium, and put in:
- One stick of cinnamon
- Two cloves (break off the little "ball" on the end and throw it away)
- Three cardamom seeds
Cook this until the scents of the spices start to rise.
- Add your chopped chicken; the pieces should be about the size of your thumb.
- Add salt, cayenne and ancho pepper (tilt this toward the cayenne for hotter, toward ancho for milder), and turmeric. (I learned to do this by eye, so I don't have precise amounts; what you want is enough pepper so that eveything gets some pepper on all sides, and a teaspoon or so of the turmeric - it's just there to take away the kavachee; that flavor and smell that raw meat gets).
- Cook until the smell of the chili softens up a bit - maybe five minutes or so; you're trying to fry the cayenne enough to take of the worst of its acid bite.
- At this point, you can go a lot of different directions - we like to add some fresh or frozen vegetables and cook a little longer till everything's heated through. Suggestions:
- Eggplant
- Green beans
- Broccoli
Serve with rice.
Malaysian? South Indian?
prakash on 2003-07-15T02:47:48
Nice Recipe. Reminded me of those days when I used to cook regularly.
However, I'd like to know since when Malaysia became South Indian. :-)
/prakash
Re:Malaysian? South Indian?
pemungkah on 2003-07-15T15:15:33
My wife, Shymala, is of South Indian extraction, but was born in Malaysia; she's taught me how to cook a good curry (after I had the utter brass to cook a Paul Prudhomme curry for he on our first date).
