Monday, October 17, 2011

Chicken curry with Apricots




A few weeks back I came across this wonderful Chicken recipe in a magazine.The recipe was a mix of Indian  curry sauce and Mediterranean dried Apricots. It is a very easy to prepare dish and it requires no marination. Initially I was a bit apprehensive about trying the dish, as the very thought of adding dry fruits to a curry sauce was little daunting, but since I was in a mood of trying something new I gave it a shot and it turned out very nice.It has a little tangy & sweet taste to it and it went very well with steamed rice.So here is the recipe.
Ingredients
12 dried Apricots
1/2 Kg Chicken pieces leg and thigh pieces preferred
1 tablespoon ghee
2 onions finely chopped
3 large tomatoes chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
3 garlic cloves crushed
2 green chillies seeded and finely chopped (adjust according to taste)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin-coriander powder
black pepper
4 cardamom pods crushed
Oil for cooking

Method-
1.Soak the dried apricots in hot water (about 250ml)for 1 hour
2.Clean the chicken and rub salt and black pepper.Melt the ghee in a saucepan, add the chicken in batches and cook over high heat for 5-6 minutes or until browned.Remove from the pan.
3.Add some oil to the same pan if required ,add cumin seeds and then put the chopped onions and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until soft and golden.
4.Add the grated ginger,garlic, green chillies and cook, stirring for 2minutes.Stir in chilli powder, turmeric powder, cumin-coriander powder and cook for a further 1 minute.
5.Now add the chopped tomatoes and crushed cardamom pods,return the chicken to the pan.Chop the apricots into bit size pieces and transfer the liquid and apricots to the pan and mix well.
6.Simmer,covered, for 35 minutes or until chicken is tender and the tomatoes are cooked and mashed.
7.Remove the chicken and keep on a plate.Bring the curry sauce to the boil and boil rapidly,uncovered,for 5 minutes till it has thickened a little,Return the chicken back in the pan and remove from gas.
Serve with white steamed rice.


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