Chicken with Fresh Curry Leaves and Tamarind

This recipe is inspired by Raghaven Iyer in his book 660 Curries.  He calls it Yogurt-Marinated Chicken in a Black Peppercorn Sauce – Chettinad Kozhi.  You’ll find it on page 122-123 of his book.   I had to order a few special items for this recipe, and I got them on Amazon.  They are Fresh Curry Leaves and Tamarind Paste (or Concentrate).

The taste is EXOTIC.  The family loved it and gave it 4-5 stars out of the gate.  There were some questions of texture by Asher, but I have some solutions to that if you care to use those below.  Overall, a very different taste and something that really spoke to the emotions.  Had dinner with my Dad, Asher, Riley, and Britney.  Jennie and Amethyst ate later upstairs.

INGREDIENTS

·         3-4 pounds of boneless chicken thighs. You’ve heard me talk about this before, and I’ll do it again.  Don’t use white meat. 

·         2 tablespoons of yellow split peas (chana dal) or Pidgeon peas. 

·         ½ cup of whole plain yogurt

·         2 teaspoons of black peppercorns

·         1½ teaspoons of salt

·         ¼ teaspoon of turmeric

·         6 cloves of fresh garlic or 3 tablespoons of minced garlic

·         6 green cardamom pods

·         3 small dried red chilies (serrano, cayenne, red Thai), stems removed.

·         1 cinnamon stick 3 inches long

·         2 tablespoons of Ghee

·         1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds (you can use black seeds as well)

·         1 red onion chopped

·         12-15 large fresh curry leaves

·         2 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chilies OR 2 fresh Anaheim chilies.

·         1 teaspoon of tamarind paste or concentrate

·         ¼ cup of shredded coconut dried, unsweetened or sweetened, reconstituted with 1 cup of boiling water.

INSTRUCTIONS

1.   Preheat a small skillet over medium high heat.  Add the split pease and cook, stirring them constantly or shaking the skillet every few seconds, until they are reddish brown in patches and smell nutty.  1-3 minutes.  It was about 1 and half minutes when I do it.

2.   Transfer toasted split peas to a blender and add the yogurt, peppercorns, salt turmeric, garlic, cardamom pods, dried chilies, and cinnamon stick.  Blend using a spatula to push the stuff down.

TEXTURE NOTE: This creates a really gritty sauce, with pieces of peppercorn and cinnamon stick.  There are two ways to avoid this.  1 some water to the mixture or more yogurt so the sauce fills the bottom of the blender better.  The other way is to use ground spices: ground pepper, garlic paste, ground cardamom, ground cinnamon.

3.   Marinate the chicken in the marinated for as long as you can.

4.   Heat the ghee in a large pot.  Add the mustard seeds and cover, letting the seeds start popping like popcorn, about 30 seconds.  Add onions, curry leaves, and Anaheim Chilies and cook till soft and transparent, 6-10 minutes.

5.   Add the chicken pieces, marinade and all.  Cook.

6.   Meanwhile, combine the tamarind paste with 1 cup of water in a small bowl, stirring to dissolve the paste.  Pour this murky brown water over the meat. 

7.   Simmer for 10-30 minutes.

8.   Still in the coconut and serve.