Post by nowimnobody on Feb 26, 2014 16:23:55 GMT
QUICK CHICKEN MASALA CURRY
I wanted a really simple and quick recipe for weeknights or times when I just need a quick curry fix without much effort. I found this masala sauce recipe on a curry blog site and tweaked it a bit to add even more speed. It’s very basic so it might end up being quite bland if you don’t like it a bit spicy, but it did the job for me. Because the original recipe didn’t specify any meat, I just cooked the chicken separately and threw it in at the end, which actually worked really well timing wise.
If you like this recipe, you can make bigger batches of the spice mixes and keep them on hand, which makes it even easier to chuck together. I just like to try recipes out first before doing that, so the amounts here are just enough for this one dish.
I’m a fat bastard so I ate all of it in one go. It’s probably enough for two people with rice/naan/etc.
FOR THE CHICKEN
Ingredients
350g boneless chicken breast meat cut into 1 inch pieces
1/8 tsp each salt, ground ginger, cayenne, garam masala
1/4 tsp each ground coriander, ground cumin, garlic powder, paprika
1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
Mix the chicken with the oil and spices.
You could leave it to marinate here if you wanted to but since the idea of this curry is to be quick, I didn’t.
Roast at 425F/220C for about 10-12 minutes. I used a nonstick roasting pan – better for browning than a dish. It should get a decent amount of colour on it by the time it's done.
FOR THE MASALA SAUCE
Ingredients
1/2 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp ground yellow mustard powder
1 whole diced onion
2 tsp garlic puree (or fresh chopped/crushed, but I keep the jar of puree on hand for convenience)
1 tsp ginger puree (or fresh chopped, but I keep the jar puree on hand for convenience)
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika (or cayenne, or a blend of the two)
1/2 tsp ground coriander
400g tin of tomatoes (whatever you’ve got – whole, diced, etc – I used about ¾ of the tomatoes and ¾ of the juice but you could probably use all of it and be alright – waste not want not)
Fresh coriander
Yogurt
Instructions (you’ll be leaving uncovered and frequently stirring throughout)
Heat fats over medium heat in a good nonstick pan (ideally)
Add cumin and mustard, cook 1 minute
Add onions and cook 10 min more – you want the onion softening and caramelizing without browning
Add garlic and ginger and cook 3-5 min more – if mixture is getting too dry you can start adding tomatoes/juice earlier
Add remaining spices and tomatoes, cook 5-10 min more, needs to be enough to break down the tomatoes
Finish with 1-2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves and 1 tbsp yogurt if that sort of stuff floats your boat.
Last tip… I don’t like big chunks of tomato and onion in my curry – I prefer a smoother sauce, so sometimes I’ll take the sauce and puree it to make sure the chunks are gone, but that interferes with the goal of speed. So in this case I just made sure to chop the onion really small and break the tomatoes up as much as possible while cooking.
Hope you like it.
I wanted a really simple and quick recipe for weeknights or times when I just need a quick curry fix without much effort. I found this masala sauce recipe on a curry blog site and tweaked it a bit to add even more speed. It’s very basic so it might end up being quite bland if you don’t like it a bit spicy, but it did the job for me. Because the original recipe didn’t specify any meat, I just cooked the chicken separately and threw it in at the end, which actually worked really well timing wise.
If you like this recipe, you can make bigger batches of the spice mixes and keep them on hand, which makes it even easier to chuck together. I just like to try recipes out first before doing that, so the amounts here are just enough for this one dish.
I’m a fat bastard so I ate all of it in one go. It’s probably enough for two people with rice/naan/etc.
FOR THE CHICKEN
Ingredients
350g boneless chicken breast meat cut into 1 inch pieces
1/8 tsp each salt, ground ginger, cayenne, garam masala
1/4 tsp each ground coriander, ground cumin, garlic powder, paprika
1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
Mix the chicken with the oil and spices.
You could leave it to marinate here if you wanted to but since the idea of this curry is to be quick, I didn’t.
Roast at 425F/220C for about 10-12 minutes. I used a nonstick roasting pan – better for browning than a dish. It should get a decent amount of colour on it by the time it's done.
FOR THE MASALA SAUCE
Ingredients
1/2 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp ground yellow mustard powder
1 whole diced onion
2 tsp garlic puree (or fresh chopped/crushed, but I keep the jar of puree on hand for convenience)
1 tsp ginger puree (or fresh chopped, but I keep the jar puree on hand for convenience)
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika (or cayenne, or a blend of the two)
1/2 tsp ground coriander
400g tin of tomatoes (whatever you’ve got – whole, diced, etc – I used about ¾ of the tomatoes and ¾ of the juice but you could probably use all of it and be alright – waste not want not)
Fresh coriander
Yogurt
Instructions (you’ll be leaving uncovered and frequently stirring throughout)
Heat fats over medium heat in a good nonstick pan (ideally)
Add cumin and mustard, cook 1 minute
Add onions and cook 10 min more – you want the onion softening and caramelizing without browning
Add garlic and ginger and cook 3-5 min more – if mixture is getting too dry you can start adding tomatoes/juice earlier
Add remaining spices and tomatoes, cook 5-10 min more, needs to be enough to break down the tomatoes
Finish with 1-2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves and 1 tbsp yogurt if that sort of stuff floats your boat.
Last tip… I don’t like big chunks of tomato and onion in my curry – I prefer a smoother sauce, so sometimes I’ll take the sauce and puree it to make sure the chunks are gone, but that interferes with the goal of speed. So in this case I just made sure to chop the onion really small and break the tomatoes up as much as possible while cooking.
Hope you like it.