North Indian Style Chicken Curry

This lovely fragrant spicy curry is in Anjum Anand's recipe book Indian Food Made Easy. I've been making this for years, with several variations, and found it excellent all round. The aromatic herbs (cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger) all contribute to great digestion, so I make sure its got a lovely layer of oil on top, similar to Chicken Karhi, and sometimes you can make a hybrid version of this curry by using which spices you have available, or experimenting.

Whole Spices: 1 tsp Cumin Seeds 7 Cloves 7 Cardamom pods 2 sticks Cinnamon	1. Heat the ghee in a large non-stick pan. Add the whole spices & salt and fry for about 20 seconds until aromatic, and the cumin seeds start to pop. 2. Add the onion and cook for about 10 minutes until golden brown, stirring often. Stir in the ginger and garlic and cook stirring for 40 seconds before adding the ground spices, and stir for 15 seconds. This forms a thick paste, but do not panic. Allow the oil to leach out of the paste & keep it moving. 3. Pour in the tomatoes and cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, until the liquid in the pan has dried off and the oil leaves the sides of the dry masala around 10 minutes. 4. Add the chicken and brown over a medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the  Coconut milk to cover the chicken (not strictly North Indian; its `my preference), bring to the boil and then cook over a low heat until the chicken is cooked through. The slower it cooks the better it tastes. This takes about 15 minutes for small joints and up to 25-30 minutes for larger ones. Check with a fork; once it is tender it is done. I usually cook on a low heat for > 1 hour. 5. Add the garam masala and coriander leaves and serve with rice or Indian flatbreads and raita or any vegetable dish. Serves 3-4
Powdered Spices: ½ tsp Turmeric ½ tsp Chilli powder 1 Tbsp Coriander 1 Tbsp Garam Masala 1 ½  tsp Salt
Fresh Herbs: 4 cloves Garlic, chopped 1 small onion or 2-3 shallots, chopped Handful Coriander, chopped 1 Thumb Fresh Ginger, chopped
1 whole chicken, butchered into parts 3 Tbsp Olive Oil, or Ghee 1 400ml tin Coconut Milk 4 Large Vine Tomatoes

North Utsire