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- From: reid@glacier (Brian Reid)
- Newsgroups: mod.recipes
- Subject: RECIPE: Chicken Korma
- Date: 31 Jan 86 05:17:05 GMT
- Organization: Stanford University, Computer Systems Lab
- Approved: reid@glacier.ARPA
-
-
- Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust
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-
- .RH MOD.RECIPES-SOURCE CHICKEN-KORMA M "2 Jan 86" 1986
- .RZ "CHICKEN KORMA" "Indian braised chicken with onions, cloves, and ginger"
- I learned to like Indian food in London, where delicious Indian food can be
- had in simple restaurants at hamburger prices and the fare at fancy places
- ranks among the finest food on Earth. Back in America, to satisfy my new
- craving for good Indian food I had to learn to cook it myself. This is a
- Friday-night supper dish in our family\(emtoo complex for a weekday meal,
- and too plain to serve to company.
- .PP
- Indian food is often quite elaborate, so by their standards this is a fast
- and simple dish. It is a classical Indian recipe, found in many cookbooks.
- .IH "serves 4"
- .IG "4" "chicken breast pieces"
- (boned) In other words, split and bone two breasts)
- .IG "\(12 cup" "safflower oil" "125 ml"
- .IG "\(14 cup" "clarified butter" "60 ml"
- (the Indians call this ``ghee'')
- .IG "6" "medium yellow onions"
- .IG "3" "garlic cloves"
- .IG "1\(12 Tbsp" "ginger" "20 ml"
- .IG "10\-12" "whole green cardamom seeds,"
- cracked. Or use
- .AB "2 tsp" "10 ml"
- of ground cardamom.
- .IG "20" "whole cloves"
- .IG "5" "bay leaves"
- .IG "1 tsp" "salt" "5 ml"
- .IG "1\(12 tsp" "coriander" "7.5 ml"
- (ground)
- .IG "\(12 tsp" "cayenne pepper" "2.5 ml"
- (or more to taste)
- .IG "8 oz" "plain yogurt" "250 ml"
- .IG "\(12 cup" "water" "125 ml"
- .IG "\(12 cup" "milk" "125 ml"
- .PH
- .SK 1
- Cut the chicken breasts into bite-size pieces and set aside. Peel the onions
- and chop them fine. You should have about 3 cups of onion. Mince the garlic
- and add to the bowl of chopped onions.
- .SK 2
- In a big frypan that has a lid, heat the butter and oil, then saut\z\(aae the
- onions and garlic for about 10 minutes, until the first hint of browning.
- Use ``medium high'' heat.
- .SK 3
- Crack the cardamom seeds between your fingers, just to get the shell open.
- Att them to the pan.
- Add the ginger, cloves, bay leaves, and salt. Saut\z\(aae until the
- onions are nice and brown, about 5 more minutes.
- .SK 4
- Mix the coriander and red pepper with the yogurt. Add the yogurt to
- the frypan, stirring as you pour, slowly enough that the onion doesn't stop
- bubbling. It could take several minutes to do this, depending on the
- diameter of your frypan.
- .SK 5
- When the last of the yogurt dries up, add the chicken pieces and brown them.
- Add \(12 cup water, reduce heat, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.
- .SK 6
- Stir in the milk and turn off the heat.
- It needs to sit a few minutes to let the flavors blend.
- The longer you let it
- sit after cooking, the better it will taste (up to several hours).
- .SK 7
- While the chicken is sitting, cook some rice. I make saffron
- rice to go with this dish.
- .SK 8
- Fish out the bay leaves, and as many of the whole cloves as you can find,
- before serving. Check to make sure it is moist enough (it should have the
- consistency of applesauce). Reheat over low heat. Serve.
- .NX
- Indians put a lot more salt in their cooking than this recipe calls for; if
- you want to make it more authentic you should double or triple the salt.
- Indians also don't like chicken skin, and will go to great lengths to prevent
- even small pieces of chicken skin from getting into the food. I rather like
- chicken skin myself, and I don't try very hard to keep it out of this dish.
- .PP
- If you can't find green cardamom seeds, don't bother using white
- ones\(emthey've been bleached and processed and don't have much flavor left.
- Use ground cardamom instead.
- .SH RATING
- .I Difficulty:
- moderate (timing is somewhat important)
- .I Time:
- 1 hour plus ``sitting time.''
- .I Precision:
- Approximate measurement OK.
- .WR
- Brian Reid
- DEC Western Research Laboratory, Palo Alto CA
- reid@decwrl.DEC.COM -or- {ihnp4,ucbvax,decvax,sun,pyramid}!decwrl!reid
-