Ben’s Home Cooking

India Menu

Madras Chicken Curry

If you prefer lamb curry, replace the chicken with 2 pounds lamb shoulder, boned and cut into 1 inch pieces. The lamb will take longer to cook than the chicken, about 1½–2½ hours of simmering. This means more evaporation, so you may need to add a little bit of water to the curry after the first 45 minutes of simmering.

1 Chicken cut up or 4 Chicken leg quarters
3 Tablespoons cooking fat
1 Tablespoon chopped Garlic
1 Tablespoon minced Ginger
1 medium Onion, chopped
6 pods Green Cardamom
4 Tablespoons Madras Curry Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
¼ cup Water
5.5 ounce can Coconut Milk (optional)

The dark meat of chicken legs stands up to the spices better than the white meat of chicken breasts. For this reason, I prefer to use leg quarters. Skin the chicken, then separate the drumsticks and thighs, and if using a whole chicken cut each breast half in two.

The wok is a common kitchen implement in India, where it’s called a kua. I consider it to be the best kind of pan for cooking curry. Heat the cooking fat in a large wok and sauté the garlic and ginger without browning until their aromas are released. Then add the chopped onion and sauté without browning until the onion is soft and translucent. Crush the cardamom pods, add them to the wok, and fry them for a few minutes. Now add the Madras Curry Powder and the salt and sauté until the aroma of the spices is released. Now raise the heat to medium, add the chicken pieces to the pan and stir well to coat them with the spices. Brown the chicken pieces and add the water to the wok. Lower the heat, cover the wok, and let the curry simmer for about 30 minutes.

While the curry is simmering, there is the potential for it to scorch on the bottom of the wok. To prevent this, stir it every 15 minutes or so, and always make sure it’s simmering rather than boiling.

If you want coconut milk in your curry, add it after the chicken is thoroughly cooked. Indian restaurants in California usually serve Madras curry without coconut milk, but using it is not nontraditional. It makes the curry less intense, but richer. I usually don’t use it. Stir the coconut milk well, because it tends to separate. Remove the chicken pieces from the wok. Slowly pour the coconut milk into the curry, stirring all the while. Coconut milk must be stirred during the moment it comes to a boil, or it will curdle. The coconut milk will also curdle if you put a lid on the wok while the curry is cooking. Return the chicken pieces to the wok.

The chicken will release some moisture while it’s cooking, so you’ll wind up with more sauce than you see when you first add the water. Indian curries go best with Basmati rice, imported from India.