New Year's Day Curry 2014

Homemade chicken korma, malaysian spiced fish, vegetable curry, tarka dhal, rice and naan ... blimey we were full.  But everybody enjoyed it.   The chicken was lovely, really moist but falling off the bone.

Chicken Korma

Oil
8 chicken thighs
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 thumb sized piece of ginger
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tin coconut milk
1/4 cup ground almonds
1 tsp garam masala
Splash of double cream (optional)

1.  Brown chicken thighs all over in hot oil.  When browned transfer to oven dish.
2.  Sweat onion in the chicken pan until soft. Add cumin and coriander seeds, crushed garlic and crushed ginger.  Cook through for a couple of minutes.
3.  Add tin of coconut milk and ground almonds and simmer until the gravy thickens slightly.
4.  Add garam masala, and whisk through - taste and adjust seasoning.  Add cream for extra luxury if there is some in the fridge.
5.  Pour over chicken and keep in medium oven for half an hour, or until required.


Rice 

Basmati rice
Water
Salt

1.  Put the basmati rice into cast iron pot with water an inch over the surface.
2.  Bring to the boil, transfer to medium oven.  Will be ready in 30 minutes - or when you are.

Tarka Dhal

Lentils (red split in this case)
Oil
Assorted spice seeds and leaves (cumin, coriander, fennel, chili flakes)

1.  Boil lentils until soft, adding more water if it looks like it's going dry.
2.  At the last minutes, fry the spices gently until they start releasing their fragrance, then chuck onto the dhal - sizzle - and serve.

Spicy fish

White fish (pollock, in this case)
Natural yogurt
Spice mix - (Malaysian fish head curry mix, in this case)
Gram flour

1.  Whisk together yogurt and spices, add enough gram flour to give an almost batter like texture.
2.  Coat fish fillets with the spice mixture - sit for 30 minutes (ish) in the fridge.
3.  Fry the fish to serve - takes about 6-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.

Curried vegetables

Whatever is available - in this case onion, parsnip, carrots, potato, aubergine and mushrooms, fresh tomatoes.  Spice mix/ dry spices, chili, crushed garlic and crushed ginger.

In a large frying pan, in a little oil, start the veg off frying.  Add a little water as they cook to keep them gently simmering.  You can start with the harder veg, and then add softer closer to serving time.

Also served with re-heated naan - but they were the huge ones, from an Asian supermarket.

Price per portion?  I'm not sure - but this is something I will focus on more in 2014.  Basically £2.50 for the chicken (special offer), £1.50 for the fish (frozen from Lidl), £1 for coconut milk, probably £4 worth of veg and £2 for assorted extras (if you have them in already - much more to source them at the time), naan was £2.  Comfortably served 6.  So, I think about £2.15 per portion, for big portions.