This was one of the first curries that I had tried and is still my favourite today. It is a tomato based curry and uses quite a lot of ground cumin as its base spice, there are various recipes for this one but I find that this chicken madras recipe works just fine. For a little twist you could add cardamom pods or even cloves, but here I have finished it with fresh sliced ginger and star anise.
Serves 4
Preparation time 10 minutes cooking time around 40 minutes
Recipe Difficulty level - Beginner-Friendly
Special equipment - None
Heat level - Hot
I believe that this must be my most cooked curry, but over the years I have adapted it into two dishes, I usually take mine out as it is, and then add double cream and a knob of butter to tone it down for the Wife. - Steve
Chicken Madras is a relatively easy curry to make, I have made it so many times now I know it off by heart. The recipe calls for basic curry gravy but its not always needed in fact I have made it many times without this, but I have found it to be much better using the basic curry gravy, and it goes further. A later addition I added to the recipe was the 'sliced ginger' at the end of the cooking time, gave a nice fresh 'crunch' with that pungent ginger flavour, of course you don't have to use this. I also opted to add star anise which again you can omit if you don't like aniseed.
The best method for cooking this is to build the texture, by thoroughly cooking the tomatoes with the garlic and fresh chillies at the beginning and then incorporating the spices. I am fortunate enough to own a 'stir-fry burner' which really does help get some heat into this first stage process, so naturally I use a Chinese wok for this purpose. The majority of Indian restaurants use this method in one form or another.
The spice 'heat' level can be adjusted with the amount and type of chillies and chilli powder, so judge for yourself what you want.
Chicken Madras Recipe
Ingredients:
2-4 chicken breasts diced or if you prefer use chicken thighs for a fuller flavour.
4 tablespoons of ghee or coconut oil
4 large cloves of garlic, crushed
3 small fresh chillies sliced length wise
2, 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
Spices
1 teaspoon of ground chilli
2 teaspoons of ground coriander
3 teaspoons of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
2 - 4 ladles of Basic Curry Gravy
1 teaspoon of Celtic or Himalayan salt
To finish
1 teaspoon of garam masala
3 or 4 thin slices of fresh root ginger (optional)
1 or 2 star anise for garnish (optional if you don't like aniseed flavour)
Chopped coriander leaves
How to make Chicken Madras
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Prep all your ingredients, cut the chicken breast into large pieces and keep aside, defrost your curry gravy, measure out spices, peel garlic and so on...
In a large pan heat the ghee or coconut oil on a medium heat, add the crushed garlic, add the sliced fresh chillies and briefly stir, and cook for around a minute, bring the heat to medium high then add the tinned tomatoes, and cook for around 10 minutes stirring regularly until the tomatoes are cooked through, breaking them up as you go.
lower the heat and add the ground coriander, cumin, chilli powder and turmeric, stir continually for a further 2 minutes not letting it stick to the pan.
Add the diced chicken and cook on a high temp until the chicken changes colour this will seal the chicken.
Now add the Basic Curry Gravy and salt, Turn the heat down to low and simmer the chicken for around 15 minutes, (40 minutes if using thighs you may need to add a little water ) until cooked.
Finally finish the dish by adding the sliced ginger, star anise, and garam masala and coriander leaves. Stir through and serve immediately.
Goes well with:
Please leave a comment below to share your own experience in preparing this recipe.
Cheers Steve.
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