Curiously, Queen Victoria was a great lover of curry and despite being Empress of India ... she actually never visited the country.
Anyway, this curry ...
I'll just tell you about how this started, which meals it's ended up in and how it came to be curry, the ingredients and method will play along as if we're making it from scratch.
I began on Monday when I came home with a great haul of fish and a bag of chicken thighs which were given to me for a song ... £2.40 to be precise, for eight! We're not big meat eaters, but I couldn't pass that up.
So, home, I simply pushed the chicken pieces into the oven covered with water and a couple of bay leaves. Three hours at 150C and the meat was falling off the bones. Meat recovered, cooled and settled into the fridge for another day, I proceeded to prepare all my fish for Monday's Bouillabaisse which used the stock from these chicken thighs and all the trimmings and such from the fish.
That's an aside ...
Tuesday, we enjoyed the chicken pieces bulking out the leftover Bouillabaisse along with more veggies - courgette and aubergine. Sorry, that's zucchini and eggplant.
Tonight, I still have leftovers ... Curry!
My Mrs really wanted Cauliflower Cheese so I focussed the curry on cauliflower and continued the theme of courgette and aubergine, largely a fairly classic Vegetable Curry, but with a good base of chicken.
Phew! From scratch, we'd use the following ...
Ingredients
Chicken - Thighs for slow-cooked, breast for a quick curry
Spices - Turmeric, coriander, cumin, paprika, fenugreek and asafoetida
Sauce - Onion, tomatoes and garlic, and butter/ghee
Veggies - Cauliflower, courgette and aubergine
Seasoning - Black mustard seeds, sea salt and black pepper
Curry Sauce
In a large, heavy-based skillet melt a good amount of ghee or butter and soften an onion, shredded. Low heat, allowing the onion to caramelise.
Add in the spice mix - weights and measures are not so important, but for a large onion, a teaspoon each of turmeric, coriander and cumin, half a teaspoon each of paprika, fenugreek and asafoetida.
Toss in some chopped garlic and while the onion is caramelising, draw an X into the base of a few tomatoes, immerse in boiling water for a minute, retrieve, peel and chop.
Once the onion is caramelised, take the onion, the tomato and blend together into a paste. Curry Sauce.
Chicken & Veggies
Several choices here ...
With pieces that need longer cooking, like thighs, either pre-cook simply in water then shred the meat from the bones or brown off the pieces in the skillet, pouring the sauce over, add a pint of water and simmer on for a good couple of hours until the meat is falling off the bones. Add in the veggies, perhaps some more water and cook on until the veggies are soft. Maybe 20 minutes? Half an hour?
With chicken breast, simply diced up, brown off, pour the sauce over, add a pint of water along with the chopped veggies and on a low boil, cook through and reduce. Maybe 20 minutes? Half an hour?
Seasoning
Before serving, season with a teaspoon of black mustard seeds, some black pepper and sea salt to taste.
Serve
Serve out and enjoy as-is, perhaps some rice alongside.
Leftovers
Got leftovers? Simply heat up in a pan for lunch with a couple of boiled eggs chopped over. Sorted!
