Badami Chicken (Curried Chicken in Almond Sauce)

Us, being a family who loves chicken, some sort of chicken dish has to be made very often. So, sticking to just a couple of curries can be very boring and hence I am always in look out for new curries. Thankfully, chicken is very versatile, can be prepared in umpteen number of ways. Creamy, spicy, dry, herby, rich - you name it, you make them with chicken.

Both my son and husband love the Malabar chicken curry and that’s one that I make on regular basis to go with neichor or chappathi. I decided to learn few more curries to be a part of our regular meals. And hence this curry was introduced into my kitchen, from ecurry.

The curry has a Korma appeal and feel. It is mildy flavoured with spices and the curry has a clean and fresh taste. You can add more or less green chillies depending on your tolerance level, but living in Britain for a while and cooking for the toddler, our spice intake has changed drastically and tolerance has decreased to bare minimum. 

The curry turned out well, rich,cream and delicious and was well accepted by my family and this definitely is going to be appearing on our dinner table often. 

Badami Chicken (Curried Chicken in Almond Sauce)

Adapted from : eCurry

Serves: 3-5

Ingredients:

750 g chicken cut into 2 inch pieces

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 ½ tbs lemon juice

salt to taste

2 tbsp yogurt

1 tsp garam masala

5 cloves

5 cardamoms

2 inch piece cinnamon sticks

2 bay leaves, put all the spics above in  afreezer bag and whack it to pound them

3-4 tbsp ghee plus oil

1/3 cup almonds , 55g, soaked and peeled and ground to paste

2 medium size onions, 250g, finely chopped, 2 cups

6 cloves of garlic chopped fine (1 tbsp)

1 ½ tbsp chopped ginger (*place roughly chopped ones in bag and whack with rolling pin to mince it)

1/4 peace nutmeg grated

¼ cup chopped coriander leaves

½ cup coconut milk

Preparations:

1. Pound the whole spices (cardamom, bay leaves and cloves) except cinnamon using a pestle and mortar, or just place it in a freezer bag and whack using a rolling in to gently crush the spices. Marinate the chicken with red chilli powder, garam masala, yogurt, lemon juice and salt and leave it aside for a minimum of half and hour or overnight if time allows.

2. In a pan, heat the pound spices along with cinnamon sticks until it releases aroma. Add oil/ghee and throw in the chopped onions and sauté until they start turning to golden.

3. Add in the chopped ginger and garlic and green chillies and cook for 2 minutes on medium heat until the raw smell goes off.

4. Add in the marinated chicken without the liquid and cook them turning them occasionally until all sides are coloured and the mixture is dry. Take care not to burn the spices and not to overly brown the chicken as we need light coloured gravy.

5. While the chicken is cooking, peel the almonds and grind them along with the leftover marinade from chicken and a touch of water if necessary. Pour this mixture into the chicken along with green chillies and  stir. Add ¾ - 1 cup water  or more if more sauce is needed and cook till done.

6. Add ½ cup of single cream or coconut milk,grated nutmeg and chopped coriander and just heat through simmering on low heat for about couple of minutes.

Serve hot with pilau rice or naan bread.