Cilantro Chicken Curry

Servings: 4 - 6

Ingredients:

• Chicken - 1 whole ( 2-4 lb/ 1-2 kg), cut in small pieces
• Onion - 1 lrg, thinly sliced, lengthwise.
• Cilantro - 1 cup, chopped
  
• Jalapeno - 1*
  
• 
  
• For the marinade:
• Cilantro - 1 cup, chopped (or about 10-12 sprigs)
  
• Jalapeno - 3*
  
• Garlic cloves - 3-4
  
• Ginger root - 2 cm
• Yogurt - 1 cup
• Milk - 1 cup
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Black salt - 2 tsp
• Sugar - 2 tbsp
  
• Cumin powder - 2 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Ground nutmeg - 1/2 tsp
• Ground hot spice - 1/2 tsp
  
• Black pepper - 1 tsp
  

Methods:

• 1. Clean and wash the chicken, and pat dry with a paper towel.
  
• 2. In a blender, blend all the ingredients together for the marinade.
• 3. In a sealable container, place the chicken pieces and pour the marinade over. Marinate the chickens, sealed, soaking in the liquid for 24 hours refrigerated or minimum of 2 hours.
• 4. On the day of cooking, Take the chicken out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature before cooking.
  
• 5. Pick the chicken pieces up from the marinade, make sure to drain them carefully, saving the liquid. Heat 2 tbsp of butter (you can alternatively use olive oil or canola oil) in a non-stick pan, brown the chicken pieces on each side, in batches. If you put all the chicken pieces together in the pan it will release the juices and become a stew rather than a saute.
• 6. Once browned remove the chicken pieces from the frying pan and rest them on a plate.
  
• 7. Add a bit more butter to the pan, add the onions and saute till they are translucent.
  
• 8. Add the saved marinade to the pan, and simmer on medium heat till they thicken up and you see the butter separating from the gravy and floating on top.
• 9. Add the chicken pieces back into the pan, add 1 cup of water , stir to combine and simmer on low-med heat, uncovered for about 15 min.
  
• 10. Meanwhile in a food processor, blend in the remaining jalapeno and 1 cup of the cilantro with half cup of water, till finely crushed.
• 11. Add the cilantro and jalapeno paste to the chicken, stir to combine and simmer on med heat, uncovered, for 15 more min.
• 12. Before turning the heat off, taste the gravy to see whether it has a mild sweet flavour. If not, add 1 more tbsp of sugar, stir it in and turn the heat off. The taste of the curry will be sweet, sour and hot.
  
• 13. Serve hot with flat bread or rice.

Hints:
* You can alternatively use green chilies. If using green chilies, substitute 2 chilies for 1 jalapeno. If you do not like the heat, then before blending them, cut them in half and take out the seeds. This will allow your dish to still have that fresh green chili flavour without being too hot.