Chicken Rogan Josh

Sometimes only a curry will do, and takeaways have a lovely mouth feel but sometimes only one ‘note’. Beneath the heat of this curry, you can taste the mildness of the yoghurt, the lemon and the coriander.

I think a rogan josh is traditionally a lamb curry, but we have plans on a lamb curry another day so this time we plumped for chicken. I’ve never followed a recipe for curry before as I usually just bung things together and see how it goes, but I wanted to try a recipe from my “One Pot” book and did so, inspired by Ruth’s “Bookmarked Recipes” event.

Ingredients – makes enough for two large portions

• 150 ml natural yoghurt
• juice of one lemon
• 2.5 cm piece of ginger, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• salt
• 2 chicken breasts (though I usually use chicken thighs)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 cardamom pods
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced (this wasn’t hot enough for me, so I added some flaked dried chillis later, next time I’ll use two or more chillis)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 handful of coriander, chopped
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato puree
• water to slacken, if needed

How to Make it

Chop up the chicken breast and marinade in the yoghurt, garlic, ginger and lemon. Get it in the fridge in the morning for best results.

Heat the oil in a large frying/saute pan and throw in the cardamom pods to cook for a couple of minutes. Add the onion, chilli, and cumin and cook for 5 minutes or till the onion is slightly softened. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree and coriander. Allow this mixture to cook down over a simmer for half an hour or so, it should be fairly stiff. Add the chicken in its marinade, which immediately slackens the mixture. Cook with a lid on for about 10-15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Season with salt as necessary, and add a dash of water if the sauce is too thick for your liking, and it’s ready.

I felt this curry could have done with more garlic, so I will be using far more cloves next time – cooked with onion as well as in the marinade.

For that authentic curryhouse feel, cobra beer went along with curry dishes from the local pound shop (which is in the city’s curryhouse central) as we waited for the rice to go ‘ping’