Chicken Curry

There are cookbooks that earn their place on your shelf, and cookbooks that don’t. After a big cookbook clearout, every new book that came into my kitchen had to prove itself — two weeks of cooking, and if the recipes delivered, it stayed.

Nadia Sawalha’s first cookbook was one of the first through the door and passed the test immediately. Something about her cooking drew me in immediately — the warmth, the generosity, that wonderful Middle Eastern spicing. If I am honest, she set me off on my spice road and I have never looked back.

This curry, fragrant with nigella seeds and generous with cream, has been on my regular rotation ever since. I’ve tweaked it over the years — more spice, more cream, more of everything that makes a cold evening feel like a warm hug. A quiet kitchen staple. And in my kitchen, that’s the highest compliment I know.

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Chicken Curry

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Course: Dinner

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Total time

45

minutes

Ingredients

• 500 grams chicken breast chopped

• salt/pepper

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil/avocado oil

• 2 large onions chopped

• 6 garlic cloves (chopped or crushed)

• 2 inch ginger/peeled and chopped

• 2 Tablespoons mild curry paste

• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste

• 250 ml water

• 200 ml double cream

• handful fresh coriander chopped

• 2 Tablespoons nigella seeds toasted

Directions

• Heat oil in casserole pan. Add salt and pepper to chopped chicken, fry till brown, take out of pan.
• Add onions till golden, add garlic and ginger fry for 2 minutes more.
• Add tomato and curry paste. Fry for a minute. Add chicken back into the pan, stir and add water. Wait till it start to boil, reduce heat and put lid on the pan.
• Put on very low for 20 minutes till almost all the liquid is gone. If there is still a lot of liquid left after 20 minutes take the lid of the pan and reduce. After reduction stir in double cream, let it bubble for a few minutes. Taste add more salt and pepper if needed.
• Toast nigella seeds in a non stick frying pan for a couple of minutes. Keep an eye on them because they burn quickly
• Garnish with toasted nigella seeds and chopped coriander.

Notes

• This is a great curry. You can eat it with rice, chutneys, mint sauce and poppadoms.