Sunday Night Chicken Korma

I went to the store today not sure what I was going to make for dinner, but not wanting to have to buy a lot of ingredients. I bought a package of chicken thighs, and two small cups of yogurt. Beyond that I just wanted to rely on whatever I had in my house. I decided to try to make chicken korma, one of my all time favorite Indian dishes. It’s a mild curry, flavored with nuts. I thought the result was ok, but could use a little modification. The recipe would have been better if I had used fresh instead of powdered ginger, had cashews, onions, coriander, or a little extra garlic. Anyway, here’s the recipe as I made it. It’s not a bad start on a Chicken Korma recipe. I served it over rice.

Chicken Korma

4 cloves garlic
3 cloves roasted garlic
1 cup yogurt
½ Tbs powdered ginger
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp chili powder
3 chicken thighs, cut into small chunks

1/3 cup skinned almonds
¼ cup cream

2 Tbs canola oil
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp cumin powder
¼ tsp bay leaves
Salt & pepper to taste
¼ tsp garam marsala
Pinch cinnamon
¼ tsp corn starch

1. Lightly crush the raw garlic. Put it in a food processor with the yogurt, roasted garlic, ginger, turmeric, and chili powder. Mix them all thoroughly. Put them into a non-metal bowl with the cut up chicken, cover in plastic wrap, and marinate the chicken for a few hours.

2. Put the almonds and ¼ cup of cream in a blender and mix on high power. Ideally you want a smooth cream, but mine still had some chunks of almond in it. Put the mixture aside

3. Put the oil in a skillet over medium high heat. If you’re adding any onions or extra garlic, sauté them in the oil. Add the spices to the oil and fry them for about a minute. Add the marinade and the chicken to the pan. Turn down the heat to medium, and stir thoroughly. Let the mixture simmer for 20-25 minutes. Make sure the chicken is cooked fully, and that the sauce has come to a simmer (it was marinating raw chicken after all).

4. If you feel the sauce needs thickening, add the corn starch.

5. Serve over rice.