Chicken with Almond Yogurt Sauce (Chicken Korma) from 660 Curries

Update: March 28, 2014

I remade this recipe after I went out and bought blanched almonds.  I also took more time blending (I used an immersion blender as you can see from the photo below) the 'curry' through so there weren't large chunks of almond.  The immersion worked well to blend through the whole spices (peppercorn, cardamom, etc.) as long as I gave the mixture time to blend together.  I think this recipe turned out a lot better, packed with flavor and not weighted down from the skins of the almonds.  

You can blanch your own almonds by soaking them in room temperature water overnight and peeling the skins the next day.  Alternatively you can buy them and if you don't have a powerful blender, consider buying them slivered, this will help immensely!  

I used cut cub chicken breast again instead of a whole breasts. I used cinnamon powder (which I bought at our local Persian store and which is very strong) instead of cinnamon stick since I needed to use it up.  I used green cardamom pods instead of white (I don't find a flavor difference here, I think it's used for appearances as in if you were going to use cardamom powder in a cake or frosting... anyone out there know?). 

Blending the curry.  Used the immersion blender and blended for a good 5-8 minutes to make sure everything was blended together and evenly.  Whole spices were blended in this mixture as well. 

Chicken curry cooking, with reduced sauce.  Very mud-like.

Dinner is served (over white rice)

Enjoy!

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Original Post:

Trying to get back onto the bandwagon of posting food recipes.... so here goes my first food posting of the year! 

While this was not my favorite curry recipe from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer, it's nevertheless worth a post since it's an interesting dish.  It happened that the next day, as I was reading, Curry: A tale of cooks and conquerors by Lizzie Collingham, I also learned a little about its origins and how the curry became as it is today.  According to this book, Indian cooking was heavily influenced by Persian cooking techniques.  For korma, the concept of marinating the meat in yogurt with spices (the first step of this recipe) was a Persian one.  The Mughals ('kings' ruling regions of India) brought food influenced by Persia and central Asia added spice to the marinade/dish.  The Mughals would not have used chilies, but as chilies made their way from South India to North India, they eventually were incorporated (chilies originated from the Portuguese who brought them to Goa, India... fascinating stuff!).  The chefs of Lucknow (another region in India), added cream to everything which was also eventually incorporated into this dish.  In this case, the marinade in the form of yogurt, but in other cases, actual heavy cream is used to thicken the curry.  In this particular dish, ground almonds is used to thicken the cream, which is also a Persian influence.  

I love that I'm getting  dose of history as I make these curries, it makes it so much more fun to cook.  

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup yogurt (I used greek yogurt)

1 thumb sized piece of ginger, minced (recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of ginger paste which is a lot of ginger and water ground together than can be stored in your fridge for use whenever... I don't do this)

3 cloves of garlic minced (1 tablespoon of garlic paste - same as above) 

1 kilo (2.2 pounds) of chicken breast (recipe calls for 3.5 pounds) cut into cubes

2 tablespoons of olive oil (recipe calls for canola oil)

1/2 teaspoon of whole cloves

1/2 teaspoon of black peppercorns 

6 green or white cardamom pods (I used white)

3 black cardamom pods (I bought these at Penzeys)

3 cinnamon sticks (each 3 inches long)

2 fresh or dried bay leaves (I used dry)

1 medium sized red onion, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced

1/2 cup of slivered blanched almonds (I did not blanch them, next time I would try this)

1.5 teaspoons cayenne pepper 

Fresh cilantro chopped for garnish

Directions: 

1. Blend together the yogurt, ginger and garlic (use a small amount of water if you find it too thick or regular yogurt as opposed to greek yogurt which is very thick) in your blender or a small bowl.  Cover the chicken pieces with the yogurt blend and refrigerate, covered overnight (you could also do this for a shorter amount of time, ~ 1 hour if you are limited on time) to marinate the chicken.  
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the cloves, peppercorns, green/white and black cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, and bay leaves.  Cook until they sizzle and smell aromatic (~recipe calls for 1-2 minutes).  Do not let the spices burn. 
3. Add the onion and cook until they are light brown, about 5 minutes.  Transfer the onion and all the spices to your blender jar and port in 1 cup of water.  Add the almonds, salt, and cayenne.  Puree until blended together forming a gritty solution, not quite paste-like, but it could be if less water was present. 
4. Place the chicken including any marinade in the skillet and cook over medium-high heat.  I find that there ends up being too much water so I use a paper towel to soak up the water. Cook until the chicken is browned. 
5. Add the onion paste to the skillet.  Pour 1/4 cur pot water into the blender jar and wash out the remaining almond solution.  Cover the chicken in the curry completely, make sure all pieces are covered.  Once it starts to bubble (like mud!), reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the skillet.  Occasionally stir the mixture ensuring all chicken pieces are cooked evenly.  Cook until the chicken is fully cooked (which I check by taking out a thicker piece and cutting it at the thickest portion to see if the inside is white). 
6. Sprinkle the cilantro over the curry for garnish.  Serve with rice. 

To be totally honest, while the curry has lots of flavor and included new spices (white cardamom) and techniques (ground almonds to make a thick curry), the dish was not novel to my palate.  I do want to re-try this recipe with blanched almonds (without the almond skin), I think this could lighten up the curry a little.  Perhaps a fresh squeeze of lemon would give it some brightness, but then it might change the flavor profile altogether.  

Regardless, I wanted to post this recipe as I think it could be fun for those willing to try.  If you do, let me know how it goes! 

Happy Currying!