Chicken Curry I

I am a woman of many chicken curries! This particular chicken curry is sort of like butter chicken, except it isn’t butter chicken, so I’m not calling it butter chicken. However, it is the first of many chicken curries I hope to publish to my site so I’ve given this recipe title an “I” to denote my chicken curry recipe intentions. This chicken is pretty quick and easy to make. It’s got a nice dark tomatoey sauce and the chicken is tender and flavorful from cooking it in the spices. Semantic satiation? Chicken! Chicken! Chicken!

Ingredients

• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 3 TBSP butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 TBSP finely minced garlic
• 1 TBSP finely minced ginger
• 1 TBSP garam masala
• 1 TBSP curry powder
• 1 TBSP chili powder
• 1 TBSP tomato paste
• 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut in half
• 1 x 14 oz can of diced tomatoes, in juice, undrained
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Heat a large pot with a tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and then the butter.
2. When the butter is mostly melted and starting to foam, add the onions.
3. Fry the onions for 6 to 8 minutes, or until they start to brown.
4. Once the onions start to brown, stir in the garlic and ginger. Cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add the spices and the tomato paste. Cook while stirring constantly for 1 minute.
6. Add the chicken, stir to coat. Cook for 5 minutes, giving the chicken a good stirring every minute.
7. Add the can of diced tomatoes and stir well to distribute them evenly.
8. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat to low and put on the lid.
9. Simmer covered for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.
10. Remove the lid, turn the heat up to medium and cook for 15 minutes more, stirring every 5 minutes.
11. Taste and add salt as needed before serving.

Serve over rice – Makes 4 Servings

Notes

• I use Sharwoods mild curry powder and anaheim chili powder, but you can vary the heat for this curry by using hotter curry powder and/or chili powder.
• If you find the sauce a little thin after step 10, you can thicken it with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons of water. Stir it into the sauce off the heat and then put it back on the heat, bring back up to a simmer and cook for 1 additional minute before step 11.
• If you are one of those people who just won’t use chicken thighs, you can use 4 chicken breasts cut into large bite-sized chunks instead and skip step 10.