Chicken Madras with Turmeric Rice

I generally like to cook complicated stuff on the weekends because I have the time and I figure that's the way I'll learn more about food. I like to try out new techniques and preparations. Not this weekend though.

I am usually suspicious of any cookbooks which bear the phrases "Best Ever...." or "Quick and Easy..." The self-proclaimed "Best Ever" genre is rarely the best ever. While the "Quick and Easy" folks may produce quick and easy recipes, but there's usually a lot of shortcuts (e.g., jarred sauces) and they come out tasting like crap.

You could imagine my reluctance when I begrudgingly chose the Turmeric Rice from Madhur Jaffrey's "Quick and Easy Indian Cooking" and the Chicken Madras from "Best-Ever Curry Cookbook". But, dang it, we wanted some curry and I was determined to make this work.

Let me say this:

The rice was ridiculously good. And quick. And easy. I didn't change one thing about it apart from seasoning it with some salt and pepper at the end. I will never serve curry with plain steamed rice again. This was just too good.

The curry was spicy and yummy and, yes, probably the best one I've made. You could say it was the Best Ever. I DID change it a bit in that I toasted equal quantities of whole spices (to replace the ground quantities asked for in the recipe) and ground them in a mortar and pestle fresh out of the pan. You can REALLY taste the difference when you do this. Who knows when your ground coriander was ACTUALLY ground? It loses something over time. Also, I upped the green chiles to 3 instead of 2. I like the heat.

Lastly, I used a corn-fed organic free-range chicken. I used a mixture of leg, thigh and breast meat, which texturally speaking, is much more interesting to eat. Not to mention thigh meat is my favorite.

I would also recommend using 1 large onion instead of 2.

Can't wait to finish this off in a few days!

Turmeric Rice (Peelay Chaaval)

2 cups basmati rice
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cloves
1 bay leaf
4 cardamom pods
1 stick cinnamon
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chives, finely sliced

Put the rice in a bowl and wash well in several changes of water. Drain and leave in a strainer set over a bowl.

Put the oil in a heavy saucepan and set over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, put in the cloves, bay leaf, cardamom pods and cinnamon. Stir once or twice and put in the garlic. As soon as the garlic turns medium brown, put in the rice, turmeric and salt. Stir gently for a minute. Now put in 2 1/4 cups water and bring to a boil. Cover tightly, turn the heat down very, very low, and cook for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with chives before serving.

Chicken Madras

450 g chicken breast fillets, skinned
3 tablespoons tomato puree
1 large pinch ground fenugreek
¼ teaspoon ground fennel seeds
1 teaspoon grated fresh root ginger
1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon chilli powder
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
300 milliliters water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, diced
2-4 curry leaves
2 fresh green chillies, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander (cilantro), plus extra sprigs to garnish
naan bread, to serve

Cut the chicken breast fillets into cubes. Mix the tomato puree in a bowl with the fenugreek, fennel, ginger, ground coriander, garlic, chili powder, turmeric, juice, salt and water.

Heat the oil in a wok, karahi or large pan and fry the onions with the curry leaves until the onions are golden. Add the chicken and stir for 1 minute to seal.

Pour the tomato sauce and spice mixture into the pan. Stir for 2 minutes to ensure the ingredients are well mixed.

Lower the heat and cook for 8-10 minutes, then add the chiles and fresh coriander. Garnish and serve.