A Right Royal Dish

Whenever my children return home for the weekend, they want nothing more than the fridge stuffed to the brim, chilled wine and food on tap to satisfy their discerning palates. There's a host of their favourites on their 'comfort food list,' so it's all about how much I want to indulge them. My chicken shahi korma certainly hits the spot. With its roots in Mughal royalty, the mild korma is cooked using yoghurt, almonds, cream and aromatic spices to create a delicate but rich tasting dish. 'Welcome home guys.'

Chicken Shahi Korma

Serves 4

• 1 kg chicken thighs, skinless and boneless with all fat removed, each thigh chopped into 4 pieces
• 5 Large Cloves of Garlic
• 5 cm Piece of Ginger, peeled
• 1 Green Chilli
• 4 tbsp Sunflower Oil
• 2 Large Onions, finely chopped
• 250g Natural Greek Full Fat Yoghurt
• 2 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Garam Masala 
• 1 tsp Coriander Powder
• 2 tbsp Ground Almonds
• 1 tbsp Flaked Almonds
• 150ml Double Cream
• 30g Coriander, finely chopped

Method

• Grind the garlic, ginger and chilli in a herb mill to form a paste.
• Heat the oil in a pan adding the onions and the garlic, ginger, chilli paste.
• Fry on a moderate heat until the onions are golden brown and add the yoghurt and ground almonds, stirring for a couple of minutes.
• Add the chicken, salt, garam masala, coriander powder, flaked almonds and mix well.
• On a low to medium heat, cook for about 40-45 minutes until the chicken is well cooked and the gravy is a darker shade of brown and has thickened.
• Add the cream and stir in. 
• Heat through, stir in the coriander and serve with hot Basmati rice or Indian bread, such as Chapatti or Naan.

Tips

• If you make your own homemade garam masala you will find that the shahi korma is far more aromatic and the spices have more depth to them. I will post my garam masala recipe for you very shortly.

Throwback Tuesday

It's so grey and it's threatening to rain out there, but I'm hoping this is transient. Admittedly, I'd rather be sitting in the Suzanne-Lenglen court at Roland-Garros watching the 'King of Clay' race through to the quarter finals. Vamos Rafa! Actually it's me who better get a move on! I have some old university friends visiting and I'd like to prepare something nostalgic, but with my modern twist. At university, tandoori chicken was one of the few things that I could offer my friends. This was not because I painstakingly cooked for them, nothing could be further from the truth. I would bring large tupperware boxes of cooked tandoori chicken and foiled wrapped aloo paranthas from my mother for all my friends on my return to halls after the weekend. It became a ritual that Sunday nights would be spent unravelling foil parcels, much to the delight of my fellow students. I soon became very popular and everyone anticipated our Sunday night feasts. So tonight, they're going to enjoy tandoori chicken with a difference!

Tandoori Chicken Appetiser Spoons

Serves 6 as an Appetiser

• 500g Chicken Mini Fillets

• 3 tbsp of Greek Yogurt

• Half a Lemon

• Half a Lime

• 2 cloves Garlic

• 3cm piece of Ginger

• 1 Green Chilli

• 1 tsp Salt

• 1 tsp Garam Masala

• 1 tsp Paprika

• 0.5 tsp Tandoori Masala

• 2 tbsp Sunflower Oil

• 4 tbsp Greek Yogurt

• 1 tsp Chaat Masala

• 2 tbsp Coriander (finely chopped)

METHOD

• Place the chicken into a bowl and add 3 tbsp of yoghurt, the lemon and the lime.

• Grind the garlic, ginger and chilli into a paste in a herb mill. If you don't have one, just chop these ingredients finely.

• Put the ginger, garlic and chilli into the bowl with the chicken.

• Add the salt, garam masala, paprika and tandoori masala.

• Stir the chicken, making sure that all the ingredients are mixed well.

• Cover the bowl with cling film and leave it in the fridge overnight.

• Remove from the fridge for 30 minutes before cooking.

• Heat a griddle pan on a moderate setting and add 1 tbsp of oil.

• Once the pan has heated up, add half the chicken and cook until golden brown and the flip the fillets to cook them on the other side. Remove them onto a plate.

• Repeat this process with the remaining chicken.

• Mix the 4 tbsp of yoghurt in a small bowl with the chaat masala and 1 tbsp of the chopped coriander.

• Allow the chicken mini fillets to rest for 5 Minutes then serve with the yoghurt dressing in a bowl as an accompaniment.

• If you plan to serve them as an appetiser, as I do, then slice up the mini fillets into small pieces.

• Place mounds of chopped chicken onto appetiser spoons and top each appetiser spoon with a teaspoon of spicy yogurt. Place some of the finely chopped coriander on top of the yoghurt.