Chicken Curry

Ingredients For the base sauce : 300g Onions – Preferably mild. 1 tablespoon fresh garlic – Jars of minced garlic maybe easier & quicker. 1 desert spoon fresh ginger – Again, a jar of minced ginger maybe easier. 1 medium sized fresh tomato. 1 heaped tablespoon tomato paste. 1 – ½ inch section of Block coconut. (Solid version not runny milk version) 1 ½ teaspoon of curry powder. I use a regular ‘medium’ strength, but is your choice. ½ heaped teaspoon of salt. 50ml vegetable oil. Other oils of choice such as sunflower or canola are fine also. NOT OLIVE OIL! 800ml water. For the chicken marinade: 3-4 Chicken breasts. 1 tablespoon tomato paste. 1 teaspoon minced ginger. 1 teaspoon minced garlic. 2 tablespoons of lemon. Or I recommend fresh lemon – 1 chopped into ½ and squeezed in the mix. ½ teaspoon chilli powder. I don’t recommend a hot one. Something like a milder paprika is suitable. 1 teaspoon curry powder. 1 teaspoon Tandoori masala powder. 1 teaspoon mint sauce. (optional) For the main curry: 3-5 tablespoons Oil – Any of the previously mentioned oils. 1 tablespoon minced garlic . 1 tablespoon tomato paste. 1 level tablespoon curry powder. 1 level tablespoon Tandoori masala powder. 1 teaspoon Methi leaves. (also known as fenugreek leaves - hard to obtain from regular super markets so have to order online or from a specialist store) 1 tablespoon Mango chutney. 1 tablespoon of Chopped coriander leaves. 2 tablespoons lemon. (or other half of previous used lemon) ½ teaspoon red food colouring (optional) Water.
1. Place your chosen wok/frying pan onto the ring/hob of your cooker and turn the heat high. 2. While this is heating, place the oil into the pan, and then the garlic into the middle. 3. Keeping an eye on the heating process, keep stirring and shuffling the pan back and forth. 4. Once the heat starts to increase, be very careful of spitting oil and garlic, continuously stirring and shuffling the pan back and forth. 5. Once the garlic has started to cook and is starting to turn a very light brown, be extremely careful not to burn the garlic as this is very easy at this stage, this stage should only take a minute at the very most. Take the pan off the heat if necessary for a moment. 6. Add the curry powders and the Methi leaves to the oil and garlic, and again proceed to stir as previously, for 20-30 seconds at the most. 7. Now add the tomato paste, taking the pan off the heat and adding 2 or 3 tablespoons of cold water. Now place back on the heat and stir carefully to mix the garlic, spices, paste and water together. 8. By this point it should be a red looking swirly paste mixture in the bottom of the pan. 9. By now you need to bring over your base sauce, and use a ladle and pour 1 ladles worth of sauce into the pan, and quickly mix in, again shuffling the pan around on the heat. 10. Once mixed, add another ladle of sauce into the mix again, and continue stirring. 11. Add the Mango Chutney to the sauce, and again stir. 12. Add another ladle to the pan, and stir once more. If your sauce is on the thicker side, you can add half a ladle and half a ladle of water. 13. Keep stirring the pan and add the coriander leaves. 14. Stir the pan for a further 4-5 minutes. 15. At this point, you can either place your previously cooked chicken into the pan for these last 4-5 minutes, or place the sauce and chicken into a glass bowl, and into the oven at 200c for 10 minutes