Authentic chicken korma
Beautifully tender pieces of chicken delicately spiced and cooked in a thick coconut and almond flavoured sauce. This is one of my guilty pleasures. Chicken Korma is a dish that comes from Mughlai cuisine where it was cooked for the wealthy and has a prestigious status associated with the royal courts. There is so much about this dish that I could tell you, but the main thing is that if you don't like the heavy, sweet, creamy korma curries served in restaurants then please, please, please try this. It is simply amazing. It's light, it's fresh and has a subtle sweetness which comes from the cassia bark rather than spoonfuls of processed sugar. Just remember there is no rule book that says a korma has to be mild. I like the gentle flavour of this dish, but I also love my food hot so just dial up the chilli and you'll create something beautifully balanced and delicious. Come on, let's cook this now!
Ingredients
Serves: 4
- 1 pinch saffron
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 6 black peppercorns
- 1 (3cm) piece root ginger, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 4 to 6 chicken thigh fillets, skinned and chopped into chunks
- 150g Greek yoghurt
- 1 heaped teaspoon gram flour
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 3 cloves
- 3 cardamom pods
- 3cm pieces cassia bark
- 1 to 3 dried red chillies
- 2 onions, minced
- 75g creamed coconut or 400ml coconut milk
- 2 heaped tablespoons almonds, ground
- 1 teaspoon white poppy seeds, ground
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 handful coriander leaves, finely chopped
- 1 squeeze lemon juice
Method
Prep:20min ›
Cook:40min ›
Extra time:1hr marinating ›
Ready in:2hr
- Crumble saffron into a small bowl and add the milk and leave to steep.
- Place the coriander seeds, salt and peppercorns into a pestle and mortar and crush. Then add the roughly chopped ginger and garlic and pound to create an aromatic paste.
- Place chicken into a large bowl and add the yoghurt, gram flour, turmeric and the paste from the pestle and mortar. Stir thoroughly, cover and leave to marinate for an hour or longer if possible.
- Heat ghee in a pan and add the cloves, cardamom, cassia and the dried red chillies and fry for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the minced onions and fry gently on a medium heat for about 10 minutes, until they just begin to brown.
- Add the marinated chicken and stir-fry for about 5 minutes on a medium heat. Place the lid on the pan, reduce the heat and leave to cook for about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Pour in the creamed coconut, with the ground almonds and poppy seeds then stir to thicken. Increase the heat and simmer until the chicken is tender and no longer pink in the centre and the sauce has thickened to the consistency you want. Pour in the saffron milk for added decadence and remove the pan from the heat.
- Add the garam masala and fresh coriander. You can also add a squeeze of lemon juice for added freshness, then serve.
See it on my blog
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Reviews & ratings
Average global rating:
(2)
Reviews in English (2)
For the amount of ingredients you would expect this curry to be full of flavour. I was really hoping for an amazing korma recipe especially with all of the effort that went into it and I was so bland! Avoid and make a different recipe. - 01 Jun 2017
ODefinitely very authentic yet not too complicated. SWMBO loved it too ! - 05 Mar 2017