Cape Malay Chicken Curry By Zurie

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1 onion, medium, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coriander seeds
• 2 teaspoons hot pepper flakes (you can use fresh hot peppers to taste)
• 2 teaspoons fennel, ground (or 4 teaspoons whole fennel seeds)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons ginger, fresh, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2-1 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground
• 15 cardamom pods (whole pods)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon garam masala (available from indian shops, choose mild)
• 1 (14 ounce) can chopped tomatoes (400g)
• 1 1/2 lbs chicken pieces (best to cut up a medium chicken)
• 2 teaspoons garlic, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar (i like sticky muscovado)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 -3 teaspoons salt (or more, depending on type of salt)

Recipe

• 1 gather your spices together, and peel and chop the ginger. put the 10 spices -- from the coriander seeds down to the garam masala -- in a mortar and pestle or even in a coffee bean grinder. mash them together so the cardamom pods burst and the whole thing becomes a mess of spices.
• 2 then heat the oil in a pot, add the onion over fairly high heat, and stir now and then, for a few minutes. add the spices you mashed or grinded, and stir. you might need to add more oil: spices slurp up oil as they fry. don't worry, you will be able to skim it off again later.
• 3 stir and fry spices and onion for about 2 minutes. add the can of chopped tomatoes and stir. the heat should be high enough so everything bubbles together.
• 4 add the chicken pieces, and stir to coat well, keeping heat high until everything is bubbling away.
• 5 turn heat way down until it just simmers, put on a lid, and cook for about 20 minutes.
• 6 sprinkle over the garlic, sugar, lemon juice and salt.
• 7 simmer with lid at a small angle, for about 15 minutes more.
• 8 stir through, taste the sauce, and adjust seasoning to taste.
• 9 please note that it is easy, near the end of cooking, to skim off extra oil/fat with a spoon, as it collects in corners of the pot. on my photos you can see there isn't much oil or fat on the dish.
• 10 serve this with rice. tonight i served this with green vegetables and what you might call "grits and beans".