Neven Maguire's Chicken Korma


This recipe is from Neven Maguire's - Neven Cooks 2 (2003). It is well worth having a variety of spices to hand in your larder. It makes a recipe like this easy to rustle up quickly. Chillies can also be bought chopped and ready for use in the refrigerated area in the supermarket. I love such a recipe that appears to be a lot of effort, but as with many recipes, if you have a well-stocked larder press producing a delicious meal is easy. I normally use coconut milk in place of the fresh cream in this recipe; add it straight after the chicken and allow the dish to simmer for 20 minutes. It's important that the coconut milk does not boil as it will result in the sauce 'splitting'. The cream/coconut milk can be omitted for a healthier yet still flavoursome option. This curry benefits from sitting in the fridge overnight to let all the delicious flavours infuse.

Chicken Korma

Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp finely grated root ginger
1 green or red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tsp garam marsala
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp chilli powder
salt and freshly ground black pepper
400g (14oz) can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp tomato purée
4 chicken breasts, diced
150ml coconut milk or fresh cream

To Serve
2 tbsp fresh coriander, roughly chopped 
cooked basmati rice
warmed naan bread
Greek yoghurt

Method
  1. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions and garlic for about 10 mins, on a low heat, until golden brown. Stir in the ginger and chilli and cook for 1 minute.
  2. Add the garam masala to the pan with turmeric, chilli powder, a pinch of salt and pepper and cook for another minute.
  3. Add the tomatoes, tomato purée and 150ml of water, stir well to combine. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 mins, stirring regularly. The sauce will be so well reduced that it is almost sticking to the bottom of the pan and the oil will have separated out on the surface.
  4. Add the chicken to the pan with a few tablespoons of water to the reduced sauce.
  5. Slowly bring to the boil, then reduce the heat. If using the coconut milk, add it now and simmer gently for about 20 mins or until the chicken is completely cooked.
  6. After this time if using the cream, in place of the coconut milk, add and simmer gently for a couple of minutes more. Season to taste.
Serve with a scattering of fresh coriander, boiled basmati rice and warmed naan bread. If it is a little spicy a spoonful of yoghurt will cool it down nicely. 

6 Comments:

Unknown said...

instead of using cream can I use coconut milk? If I can at what stage can the coconut be poured into the pan

Nessa Robins said...

Actually Jim coconut milk is what I nearly always use in this recipe! I add it just after the chicken and then allow it to simmer for 20mins.
I thought I had mentioned this in the post so thank you for your query:)

Anonymous said...

Great recipes but very disappointing that copyright restrictions prevent one from printing out a recipe. Tts very tedious to have to hand write them or cook while running from pc (upstairs) to kitchen and back!

Nessa Robins said...

Thank you for your comment but there is no need for you to be disappointed! There are two buttons at the end of each post, one to print the post and one to e-mail the post. I had to copyright the blog as my photos were appearing on other sites, without my permission. Hope this helps you :)

Unknown said...

Have you ever frozen the leftovers and would you recommend doing so

Nessa Robins said...

Good evening. It should freeze well, but as there is some cream/coconut milk in the sauce it may split a little when it's reheated. So, the consistency may not be the same, but it will still taste good.