First I must tell you a short story about the last week in my house. Starting about 2 weeks ago my computer (5 months old, from Dell) starting bleeping to a blue screen, often called the “blue screen of death.” Then it would reboot. Some of my work was lost each time this occurred. This has been going on since January, but it got a lot worse recently. After a phone call or two to Dell, we ran a complete scan of the hard drive, trying to find out if there are hardware problems. Per the report, no. So therefore it’s software problems (I did a “clean” installation of the new Windows 7 on this computer in February). Dell handed me over to their partner, iyogi.net, a company in India.
After paying them some upfront money, I’m guaranteed a year of software technical service if I have problems. You don’t want to know the number of phone hours I’ve had with them (as I’m writing this it’s at least over 15 – they’ve already lost money on me!). The only day I wasn’t on the phone with these people was Sunday, because they told me there were going to escalate my problem to their senior expert team and they’d call ME on Monday, which they did. That day I spent 4 (FOUR) hours on the phone. Mostly THEY were working on my computer, but I was here watching and assisting when necessary. We ended up having to reformat my hard drive again (sigh), so I’ve spent hours and hours and hours loading back on my programs, files, etc. I’m fairly tech minded, so this stuff isn’t hard for me, just tedious. I had a complete backup of my files, photos, etc. – except those things that got lost when the computer rebooted.
So while the computer was doing things and we were waiting and watching the screen, I got to talking to this senior, expert technician, Jatan. Really nice guy. Almost flawless English. Young. His family are caterers, living in New Delhi. He went into computer science instead. His family eats meat; he’s a vegetarian. Because I was having problems with one of the Microsoft programs where I compose stories like this one, they assigned him to my “case.” He has a blog, and understands and uses the program I use, called Live Writer. Anyway, we got to talking about food. I told him about one of my now favorite Indian dishes, called shrimp khichdi, a dish that my friend Kunda taught me how to make (that I’ve posted here on my blog).
I told him about my friend Kunda, who gave me a small container of garam masala. Made from her mother’s prized family recipe. Kunda’s sister-in-law makes it according to Kunda’s mother’s recipe, and whenever Kunda visits her India-homeland, she brings back a big container of it. Or, when relatives come here to visit, they often bring more for her. And she was kind enough to share a bit of it with me.
My new friend Jatan told me about how his family has a get-together periodically to make garam masala. On Sundays. And it takes them a good part of the day, what with sorting, measuring, toasting, grinding, mixing, and packaging. As caterers, they go through a LOT of it, so he knows the spice mixture well.
Therefore, when I got off the phone with Jatan at 6:30 pm, I needed dinner in a hurry. I had defrosted some chicken thighs, and I flipped through my to-try recipe file, of course I was primed to make something Indian. One that called for garam masala. But it needed to be quick. This is it, and oh, was it ever good. I started with a recipe, but made major changes to it, so I’d call it my recipe now.
You will likely want to just buy a ready-made garam masala – some markets have it in the spice section. Or you can buy it from Penzey’s, or easier yet, make your own. It’s mostly cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, poppy seeds, black pepper, sometimes chiles, and nutmeg. It differs depending on what region of India you’re from, apparently. If you search the internet you’ll find plenty of variations on the garam masala combination. I also added turmeric, a pungent yellow spice that will stain your fingers briefly, and is a common ingredient in curry powder (which is also a combination of spices).
This dish was so easy. First I started my rice cooker going with nothing but a little butter and salt added. Then I started cooking the curry gravy. Onions, chicken, coconut milk, pomegranate molasses, a small amount of sugar, and an almond paste composed of almonds (supposed to be raw, but I had dry roasted), fresh ginger and garlic that gets whizzed up in the food processor. From start to finish it took me about 40 minutes to make this dish, even including the garnish of cilantro and more chopped almonds on top. We ate it two nights in a row and both loved it. I’m not sure that pomegranate molasses is Indian, but I didn’t have tamarind paste, so I substituted. The original recipes, I would guess, must have included a full 100 almonds. I made a smaller amount of curry, so likely there aren’t quite 100 of them! Forgive me! But if you want quick and easy, and very tasty, read on.
One Hundred Almond Chicken Curry
Recipe By: Inspired by a recipe found on the internet
Serving Size: 4
ALMOND SPICE PASTE:
4 cloves garlic — peeled
2 tablespoons fresh ginger
2 tablespoons garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 cup almonds — raw
3 tablespoons water — or more if needed
CHICKEN AND SAUCE:
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 large yellow onion — half sliced, half minced
1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs — in bite-sized pieces
2 cups light coconut milk
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon sugar — or sweetener of choice
Salt and pepper to taste
GARNISHES:
3 tablespoons cilantro — minced
1/4 cup almonds — minced
1. In the bowl of a food processor add the garlic and ginger and puree, scraping down the bowl at least once. Add the garam masala, turmeric, almonds and water. Process again until the mixture is a medium-thick paste. Add more water if needed to make it barely pourable. Set aside.
2. In a large, deep saucepan (with a lid) heat the oil and add the onions. Saute until they’ve begun to turn golden brown, about 5-7 minutes. Add the chicken pieces and saute for about 2 minutes, then add the garam masala paste and coconut milk. If the mixture is too thick add a little more water as needed. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes, until the chicken is tender. Add the pomegranate molasses, salt and pepper and sugar, then taste for seasoning. If the mixture is too thin, leave lid off and simmer for a few minutes to reduce and thicken the sauce.
3. Serve over hot rice with cilantro and minced almonds on top.
Per Serving: 436 Calories; 33g Fat (62.9% calories from fat); 21g Protein; 23g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 54mg Cholesterol; 95mg Sodium.
printer-friendly PDF
A year ago: Mashed Potatoes with Bacon, Cheddar & Chives
Kathleen Heckathorn
said on March 18th, 2010:
Great story Carolyn. You have the gift of getting anyone and everyone to give you a good food story!
Thank you, Kathleen! I do work at trying to find interesting and different stories to write! . . . carolyn T