Durban Chicken Curry
Chicken curry is a spicy Indian dish with gravy that can range from light and fluffy to oily depending on your preferences. The chicken is tender and juicy and combines well with rices or traditional breads such as roti. This authentic South African Indian dish takes a bit more patience and timing compared to mince curry, since the flavors of the spiced gravy require more time to infuse into the chicken while it cooks. Even though this dish requires more attention than others at first, it will soon be simple enough to make on the fly.
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken cut or mix of cubed breast, thigh, and whole drumsticks
- 2 roma tomatoes, diced
- 5 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 3 red Thai chilli peppers, finely diced or 4 jalapeno peppers
- ½ onion, diced
- ⅔ cup oil canola or vegetable
- 1½ tsp garam masala added separately from the other ground spices
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 potatoes, cubed
- 1 cup cilantro optional
Whole spices
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cloves
- 1 star anise
- 4 cardamom pods or ⅔ teaspoon of powder
Dry spices
- 4 tsp mixed masala
- 1½ tsp cayenne powder
- ¼ tsp cumin powder optional
- ¼ tsp coriander powder optional
- ¼ tsp cardamom powder optional
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder optional
Instructions
- Heat pot to medium high
- Add oil to pot and heat for 2-3 minutes
- Add whole spices and fry for 2-3 minutes
- Add onion and cook until glassy/translucent
- Add ginger, garlic, and chilli peppers. Cook until fragrant
- Add chicken and ground spices. Cook for 5 minutes
- Add tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes are almost broken down
- Add potatoes and salt. Cook for 10 minutes
- Add garam masala. Cook until potatoes are soft