Minty Chicken Curry in Yogurt Sauce

Dadu's Ceylon Chicken Curry

Mum used to make this scrumptious recipe of Dadu’s (Grandfather). He was a

gourmet cook and loved International cuisine as much as Baangal (East Bengali) food. The combination of mint, cilantro and yogurt gives this chicken curry a very unique flavour.

Ingredients

2 lb. chicken, cut into bite size pieces

1 cup Greek or 'hung' yogurt

1 bunch coriander/cilantro leaves with stems

1 bunch mint leaves with tender tems

4 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided

Leaves of 1 sprig curry leaves

1 tsp. garam masala powder

Salt to taste

4 Tbsp. crisply fried onions

2 heaped tsp. garlic paste

1½ tsp. ginger paste

¼ tsp. black mustard seeds

3 cloves

3 cardamom pods

1 cinnamon stick

4 hot chilli peppers, sliced

Directions

1. Chop cilantro and mint and blend to a smooth paste.

2. Marinate chicken with salt, yogurt, coriander-mint paste, crushed fried onions, garlic paste, ginger paste and 2 Tbsp. oil for 30 minutes.

3. Heat remaining oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, chilli peppers, cloves,

cardamom, cinnamon and curry leaves. 

4. As soon as mustard seeds start to sputter, add chicken & stir thoroughly.

5. Lower heat, cover and simmer chicken for 20 minutes until cooked.

6. Sprinkle with garam masala powder and serve with steamed Basmati rice or Indian bread.