Chicken in Cilantro

Chicken in a Cilantro, Spinach, and Mustard Sauce

This chicken recipe is inspired by the version in Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick & Easy Indian Cooking.  It produced one of the most uniquely tasting meals I’ve ever had and was a hit with my family. A definite repeat contender.

INGREDIENTS

• ¼ Cup of Vegetable Oil

• 3 bay leaves*

• 6 green cardamom pods

• 1-inch stick of cinnamon (broken up).

• 5 whole cloves

• 2 dried red hot chiles whole

• 2 pounds of boneless chicken**

• ¼ cup of Raisins (This is part of Madhur Jaffrey’s recipe, and I include it here for her sake, but I don’t use the raisins.)

• 6 tablespoons of plain yogurt

• 1 teaspoon of salt

• Freshly ground pepper

• ¼ teaspoon of Cayenne pepper

• 2 tablespoons of chopped minced ginger or ginger paste

• 1-2 green chilies.  (If you want it hot, use Serrano or Jalapeno, if you want it milder, use 2 big Anaheim chilies.  I use Jalapeno for hot, and Anaheim for mild.  Serrano has less flavor to me and is just more for ‘heat’.) 

• 2 cups of chopped Cilantro leaves (Loose)

• 1 bunch of fresh Spinach Leaves (Washed, and stems trimmed)

• 3 tablespoons of mustard (probably a brown mustard like Gouldens, Dijon, etc, but you can use regular yellow mustard (and I have) if you need to).

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a wide skillet, heat the oil. 

2. Add bay leaves, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, cloves, and red chilis.  Cook for a10 to 15 seconds, until the bay leaves start turning brown. This goes quick.

3. Add the chicken pieces, and brown on both sides (this is usually about 3 minutes per side. If you use the thighs like I do, it goes really quick).

4. Add in the raisins (if you are using, I don’t), yogurt, 1 teaspoon of salt, fresh pepper and cayenne. Stir well.  Bring to a simmer.

5. Simmer on low gently for 15 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, put the ginger paste into a blender and add green chilies and cilantro.  Blend until chunky, then add the spinach.  Using spatula to push it down if you have to blend until you have a nice chunky puree.  You don’t want to liquefy it.

7. Add mustard and an extra dash of salt if you want to the green creamy mixture.  

8. When the chicken is done, 15 minutes or so, add the green sauce to the chicken directly.  Stir it up.  Bring to a simmer again, cover and cook a bit more, maybe 10 minutes. 

9. Take out the bay leaves, the cardamom pods, pieces of cinnamon and whole cloves and whole chilies (if you can find them).  

10. Serve immediately, usually with rice.

A note on the spices – Indian cooking often starts by putting spices into hot oil, which creates a great aroma in the kitchen. In this recipe, we use bay leaves, cardamom pods, cinnamon, cloves, and chilies.  This is the more ‘authentic’ way of doing things and offers a different taste.  Having said that, if you don’t have these items, you can still cook this whole recipe and get a very similar taste, by using normal Spice Island brand spices.  Do it this way:

Ingredients

3 Bay leaves 

• 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom

• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon of ground cloves

• ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper

• 1 teaspoon of salt

• 1 teaspoon of onion powder

• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder

Mix the spices together and rub into the chicken well with your hands.  Heat the oil, and brown the bay leaves as above, and then brown the spice rubbed chicken.  The rest of the recipe goes as normal.

*There are Indian Bay leaves and there are regular Mediterranean bay leaves (which are the common ones you get in the United States grocery stores).  When I make this recipe I use the Mediterranean version available in the USA.  Some Indian Cookbooks are going to suggest you special order the Indian Version.  As of the time of this writing, December 28, 2013, I have never done so, just using regular bay leaves.

**Madhur Jaffrey uses a whole chicken here cut into pieces, but I almost never do that.  Instead I prefer boneless chicken thighs for all my meat.  Sometimes I’ll use chicken breasts, but less and less so.