C46 Chicken Pahlacha

This curry is essentially a modified Madras with the inclusion of red pepper cooked in 2 stages and the addition of a little lime pickle and yogurt. The name is pure invention, being taken from parts of the Hindi words for red pepper and pickle, so you will never find it on any restaurant menu. It is a very nice medium/hot curry and a pleasant alternative to a standard Madras.

Ingredients

For 1	Continued...
2 tbspn oil	300 ml c46 curry base sauce (see note 2)
50 gm red pepper	2 tspn tomato purée
½ tspn ginger	½ tspn lime pickle (see note 3)
½ tspn garlic	1 portion of c41 pre-cooked chicken
1 tspn chilli powder	¼ tspn salt
3 tspn c41 spice mix	2 tbspn yogurt
½ tspn methi (see note 1)

Preparation

Very thinly slice the red pepper and cut into ½ - 1 inch lengths.
Grate the ginger, crush the garlic and combine these into a paste with a little water.
Chop the lime pickle to reduce any chunks as much as possible, removing any hard pieces.

Cooking - 8½ min

Heat the oil in a suitable pan and fry half of the red pepper, stirring, for 2 min.
Add the ginger/garlic paste and cook, stirring, for about 30 secs.
Add the chilli powder, c41 spice mix and methi and cook, stirring, for 1 min, adding a little c46 base sauce as needed to prevent drying and burning.
Add the tomato purée, lime pickle and 40 ml of c46 base sauce and cook for 1 min, adding c46 base sauce as needed to prevent drying.
Add the c41 pre-cooked chicken, salt and 80 ml of c46 base sauce and cook, stirring regularly, for 2 min adding c46 base sauce as needed to maintain the desired sauce consistency.
Add the remaining red pepper and cook, stirring regularly, for 1 min adding c46 base sauce as needed to maintain the desired sauce consistency.
Reduce the heat, stir in the yogurt and cook for 1 min.

Serving

Serve with rice and garnish with a little freshly chopped coriander.

Notes

(1) Methi (Kasuri Methi) is dried fenugreek leaves and can be purchased at some supermarkets or any Indian outlet.
(2) Dilute the 300 ml of c46 base sauce with 200 ml of water and heat before use. If defrosted from frozen the base sauce can be warmed and briefly blended to reconstitute the colour and consistency.
(3) Lime pickle can normally be purchased at Asian outlets and, maybe, at some larger supermarkets.

The main ingredients

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The finished meal

Methi

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Lime Pickle

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