How to Make a Delicious Indian Chicken Korma
My wife and I are always on the lookout for new and different recipes. We often find interesting recipes to try in the newspapers we read but many of them are inspired by cooking magazines I subscribe to.
This recipe is adapted from a Food Network Magazine sent to us to encourage us to buy a subscription. It’s a good cooking magazine and filled with lots of good recipes especially designed for weekday cooking.
What Is Korma?
Korma is an Indian curry dish typically prepared with almonds and yogurt or cream but can be made water or stock or in this recipe coconut milk. The spices may vary depending on who is preparing it and where they are from.
This recipe suggests onion, garlic, cilantro and Madras curry powder but we used a basic curry powder from our local supermarket. The difference between Madras curry powder and more readily available curry powder is their heat. Madras curry powder is hotter from red chili peppers.
I suppose I could of added a little hot chili powder to my curry powder to give it a little more heat to make it more like Madras. Next time I’ll give that a try.
Did You Know???
Both Madras curry powder and everyday curry powder are not Indian spices. Although they are based on spices from Indian cuisine, these curries are both British spice blends based on British taste buds.
Don’t Shake the Coconut Milk
This recipe uses both the cream that sits at the top of the can when you first open it and the milk underneath it. The cream looks like you would think it would but the milk underneath looks more like cloudy water and not what you might be expecting.
It’s important you don’t shake the can or you won’t have access to the cream that settles on top.
Chicken Korma Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Basmati rice
- 8 ounces green beans ends trimmed and halve
- 13½ ounce can coconut milk
- 1½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut up into pieces
- 1 tablespoon curry powder Madras if available
- salt & pepper to taste
- ¼ cup almonds sliced
- 1 small onion roughly chopped
- 1 inch piece fresh ginger peeled and sliced
- 2 cloves garlic peeled
- 2 plum tomatoes roughly chopped
- ½ cup fresh cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Start the rice in a rice cooker or small pot following the directions provided by rice packaging.
- Steam or microwave the green beans until they turn bright green. Our rice cooker has a top attachment so we can steam the foods while the rice is cooking. When the beans are done, remove and reserve.
- In a bowl large enough to hold all the chicken pieces, combine1 tablespoon of the cream at the top of the opened coconut milk with the chicken, curry powder and a pinch of salt and pepper.
- In a pan large enough to cook all the chicken, add the sliced almonds and toast over medium-high heat until lightly toasted and fragrant. Remove and reserve.
- In a food processor or blender, puree the ginger, garlic, onion and half the toasted almonds.
- Place the reserved pan you toasted the almonds over medium-high heat, add 2 more tablespoons of the coconut cream from the top of the can of coconut milk. Add the onion/ginger/garlic puree to the pan and season with a pinch of salt. Stir and cook until the mixture in the pan is almost dry - about 5 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, stir and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the chicken pieces and remaining coconut milk and any cream left in the can to the pan. Cover the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Uncover the pan and continue cooking for about 5 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken.
- Add the green beans and half the cilantro to the pan of chicken, stir, taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
- Spoon some Basmati rice into each bowl, top with the chicken Korma and garnish with the remaining toasted almonds and chopped fresh cilantro.
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