C46 Chicken Tamil Nadu

This recipe has been converted from a couple of traditional recipes that originate from Chettinad in the state of Tamil Nadu (South India). Another recipe from the same region, 'Chicken Chettinad' is also available. This is a MEDIUM/HOT curry with robust spicing and a strong tomato flavour.

Ingredients

For 1	Continued...
2 tbspn oil	¼ tspn ground coriander
60 gm onions (prepared weight)	300 ml c46 curry base sauce (see note 3)
3 tspn c41 curry powder (see note 1)	1 tspn tomato purée
1 tspn chilli powder	100 ml passata (see note 4)
1 tspn garam masala (1)	1 portion c41 pre-cooked chicken or c41 pre-cooked chicken tikka
1 tspn kasuri methi (see note 2)	¼ tspn salt
1 tspn fennel seeds	¼ tspn garam masala (2)
½ tspn turmeric	1 tbspn lime juice

Preparation

Chop the onion.

Cooking - 9 min

Heat the oil in a suitable pan and fry the onion, stirring regularly, for 2 min.
Stir in the c41 curry powder, chilli powder, garam masala (1), methi, fennel seeds, turmeric and ground coriander and cook, stirring, for 1 min, gradually adding a little c46 base sauce and stirring to prevent drying and burning.
Stir in the tomato purée and passata and cook, stirring regularly, for 2 min adding c46 base sauce if needed to prevent drying.
Add the c41 pre-cooked chicken (or tikka), 80 ml of c46 base sauce and salt and cook, stirring regularly, for 3 min, adding c46 base sauce as needed to maintain the desired sauce consistency.
Reduce the heat and stir in the garam masala (2) and lime juice and cook for 1 min.

Serving

Serve with rice cooked, optionally, with a little turmeric and optionally garnish with freshly chopped coriander.

Notes

(1) Any good quality curry powder could be used, but use the c41 curry powder if possible to maintain the spice balance. The total amount of spice may seem a lot, but it works well with the other robust flvours.
(2) Kasuri Methi is dried fenugreek leaves and can be purchased at many supermarkets or any Asian outlet.
(3) 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.
(4) The amount of passata and purée produces a fairly strong tomato flavour, so reduce the amount to suit your taste.

The main ingredients

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The finished meal

Kasuri Methi

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