Chicken Lal Mirch

This was inspired by a recipe by Camellia Panjabi which originated from Madras and has a Parsee influence. The Parsees (Parsis) originally came from Persia but have largely kept their ethnic identity and this is said to be a favourite in their community.

Ingredients

For 1	Continued...
2 - 3 red chillies (about 20 gm)	1 tspn paprika
2 x 1 x 1 cm ginger (about 4 gm) (prepared weight)	¼ heaped tspn turmeric
100 gm onion (prepared weight)	2 tbspn oil
2 cloves garlic (about 10 gm)	1 bay leaf
3 tbspn chopped tomato	2 green cardamom pods
1/8 - ¼ tspn cumin seeds	1 chicken breast
¼ heaped tspn coriander seeds	¼ tspn salt
¼ tspn ground cinnamon

Preparation

Cut the chicken breast into 3 or 4 pieces.
Deseed (or leave seeds in if you like the heat) and roughly chop the chillies.
Roughly chop the ginger.
Roughly chop the onion.
Roughly chop the garlic.
Blend the chillies, ginger, onion, garlic, tomato, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cinnamon and paprika to a smooth paste.
Mix the turmeric into the paste (it would discolour the blender) and set aside.

Cooking

Heat the oil over a low to medium heat and fry the bay leaf and cardamom seeds for 1 min.
Add the paste and cook, stirring regularly, for 3 min.
Add the chicken and cook, stirring regularly, for 2 min.
Cover the chicken with hot water and cook for about 15 min, stirring regularly and adjusting the heat or adding more water to produce a sauce of the desired consistency.

Serving

Serve with rice.

Notes

The recipe really requires Kashmiri chillies which are difficult to obtain so paprika is added to accentuate the red colour.

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