Coconut Chicken Curry

Julie Biuso's Coconut Chicken Curry Photo: supplied

Every once in a while you discover a dish that can only be described as utterly, utterly delicious, a combination of flavours and textures that is so pleasing, so satisfying, a dish where you’d change nothing because it is just bang-on, and that as soon as you finish eating it you know you’ll be making it again very soon. Like the next day. This is one such dish. 

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp ghee or clarified butter
• 2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
• Small piece ginger, as big as your thumb, peeled and chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 x size 14 chicken (1.4kg/about 3 pounds), patted dry
• 12 cardamom pods
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• ½ tsp fenugreek seeds
• 2 stems curry leaves, leaves removed from stems, optional
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp hot chilli powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 200ml (about 7 fluid ounces) canned tomatoes, crushed
• 1 Tbsp tomato concentrate
• Finely grated zest 1 lemon and 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 150ml (5 fluid ounces) canned coconut cream

Method

1 Preheat oven to 170°C (325°F).

Melt 2 tablespoons ghee or butter in a medium/large frying pan (skillet) and add onions, ginger and garlic. Fry for about 20 minutes until the onions are soft and lightly golden.

2 Tie chicken legs together with string. Choose a casserole big enough to fit the chicken and heat casserole over a medium heat. Drop in 2 tablespoons of ghee or butter and brown chicken all over, turning with tongs and a wooden spoon. Brown the chicken slowly, lowering the heat if necessary, and try not to tear the skin. See Recipe Notes.

3 Meanwhile, split cardamom pods and extract seeds. Put cardamom, cumin and coriander seeds in a small blender and grind (or crush in a mortar and pestle). Add ground spices, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, if using, turmeric, chilli powder and salt to onions. Fry gently for 5 minutes, stirring several times. Add tomatoes, tomato concentrate and lemon zest and juice and bring to a gentle bubble. Stir in coconut cream.

4 Pour excess fat off chicken in casserole. If this is difficult to do because the pan is heavy, scoop off as much fat as possible then mop the rest with paper towels. Pour the spice mixture over the chicken. Cover casserole with a lid and transfer to preheated oven. Cook gently for 40 minutes. Remove casserole from oven, then tilt chicken so that liquid pours out of the vent into the juices. Add ½ cup water to juices and stir the liquid to blend. Return covered casserole to oven and cook for a further 40 minutes, basting once more, or until chicken is cooked through. If sauce is very thick, add a little more water.

5 Remove casserole from oven and leave it covered for 30 minutes to cool down. This will allow the flavours to penetrate the chicken meat. When ready to serve, transfer the chicken to a platter, remove string, and break apart into joints; the chicken should be so tender it barely needs a knife to cut it.

Recipe Notes

This is another dish which seems to improve after a night’s repose in the fridge – but warm it up slowly before serving (best done in the oven, covered), although small portions reheat well in the microwave. If you don’t have ghee or clarified butter, use regular butter (unsalted by preference as it is less likely to burn) but keep an eye on the chicken when browning it. I use a cast-iron casserole and heat it on medium, then lower the heat once I add the chicken as cast-iron retains heat. If you are using a metal dish, which will heat up quickly, brown the chicken over a very gentle heat or the butter will burn.