From: Sandy Harris
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 00:35:47 -0500
Here's ... a curry I can throw together in a half hour out of
things that I always keep around.
The only hard part might be finding garam masala (a mixed
spice powder) if you're in an area where there hasn't been
much Indian immigration.
Indians do not generally use curry powder; that's a British
invention. They do use garam masala. Any Indian food store
will have it, and some health/bulk food stores. Serious Indian
cooks grind their own. I have a recipe for it if someone needs
it, but I just buy mine.
Ingredients:
two frozen Cajun-spiced chicken breasts
two large or three medium onions
vegetable oil
butter
3 Tablespoons garam masala
2 Tablespoons tumeric
half cup plum sauce
packet of 3 peppercorn sauce
water
Optional:
a tablespoon of finely chopped cilantro
(the stuff in the Indian store that looks like parsley)
Hot sauce or cayenne to taste
(You shouldn't need much; we started with Cajun chicken, and
both garam masala and tuneric are spices!)
a handful of frozen peas
a chopped up green or red bell pepper
Thaw the chicken, preferably either in the fridge or microwave.
Thawing at room temperature is dangerous; conditions for bacteria
are very good. Thawing fast in a frying pan is possible, but tricky.
Chop the chicken up into chunks the size of your little finger, or
a bit less. Chop onions coarsely.
Fry the chicken using a fairly small amount of oil. Stir often.
When the chicken starts to turn colour, throw in onions. The idea
is to end up with fully cooked chicken at the same time the onions
go clear and soft.
Add peppers or peas if you're using them, a couple of minutes after
the onions. They don't need much cooking.
Reduce heat, or dump fried stuff into another pot on lower heat.
Add butter, get it melted and mixed in. I use about a quarter pound
for a fairly rich curry, but it works with less too.
Add the other ingredients, using enough water to keep the sauce
from burning or getting horribly gooey.
Let it simmer on low heat for at least 10 minutes. Add water if
it thickens much. Make rice while that's going on.
Dump on rice and eat.
Serves one to six, depending mainly on curry/rice ratio (which
depends partly on how much cayenne you added) and how hungry
and spice-tolerant the people are.
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