A Taste of Africa - Kenyan Chicken Curry

Submitted by Karen Elizabeth

"I made this recently and we loved it. A rich, fragrant, but not overly 'burny' curry. Because we are not great meat eaters, I used half the chicken, the full amount of sauce, and I added a few sauteed shrimps right at the end. If you don't have garam masala, try a curry powder that you like, I do keep roasted garam masala in my pantry. I also let the curry sauce cook for longer than the recipe states, you should never rush a curry if you have the time! I served this over steamed basmati rice. 30 minutes refrigeration time is included in the preparation time. This recipe is taken from The Australian Womans Weekly "New Curries", and the following is how they describe it. "Kenyan cooking is a fusion of East African and Middle Eastern methods known by the name of swahili cooking, a word which identifies the culinary influences of traders arriving by sea from the Arabian peninsula upon the indigenous population. This curry uses the pungency of paprika, coriander and turmeric in the chicken marinade, to complement the green chilli and fenugreek in the curry.""

 

• Ready In: 1hr 30mins
• Ingredients: 21
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 40 g fresh ginger, grated
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 9.85 ml ground turmeric
• 118.29 ml lemon juice
• 78.78 ml vegetable oil
• 4.92 ml ground cumin
• 14.78 ml garam masala
• 14.79 ml ground coriander
• 4.92 ml paprika
• 4.92 ml chili flakes
• 59.14 ml plain yogurt
• 1 kg chicken thigh fillet, cut into 3 cm pieces
• 600 g brown onions, chopped coarsely
• 9.85 ml chili powder
• 9.85 ml ground fenugreek
• 800 g tinned crushed tomatoes
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 2 long green chilies, finely chopped
• 300 ml cream
• 14.79 ml honey
• 59.14 ml coarsely chopped coriander leaves

directions

1. Combine half the ginger, half the garlic, half the turmeric, half the lemon juice and half the oil in a large bowl with ALL the cumin, garam masala, ground coriander, paprika, chilli flakes and yoghurt.
2. Add the chicken, turn to coat in marinade.
3. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to very hot (220C/425F).
5. Cook chicken in lightly oiled shallow flameproof baking dish, uncovered, 10 minutes.(With the marinade).
6. Heat remaining oil in large saucepan, cook onion, chilli powder, fenugreek, remaining ginger, garlic and turmeric, stirring, until onion softens.
7. Add tomatoes (with their juice), cinnamon, green chillies and remaining lemon juice.
8. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.
9. Stir in cream and honey, simmer, uncovered, for one minute.
10. Add chicken to curry, simmer about 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
11. Remove from heat, stir in fresh coriander, serve over basmati rice, garnish with fresh coriander.

Reviews

[Leggy Peggy]

I make a lot of curries and this will fit nicely into my repertoire. The balance of flavours is perfect. Served with your Paneer Palek recipe and several others.

 

[Dena B.]

has anyone tried this with coconut cream???

 

[Annacia]

To start with I cut this back to 2 servings. Used the Garam Masala and all other spices and have to admit to not using the honey and in place of the cream I used fat free liquid coffee creamer which delivers pretty much the same flavor and cooks like cream. The outcome was delicious over brown rice. The dish was milder than I had expected but no less enjoyable than I had expected. Made for For Your Consideration.

 

[Stardustannie]

This was a nice subtle curry. I made several alterations to the instructions first I added 2 cups water along with the tomatoes in step 7. In step 5 I placed my chicken in the highest rack under the grill and left for a little longer than 10 until the chicken had some charred bits. I must say I would make the chicken again using the marinade then threading onto skewers and cooking on the BBQ. The flavour was awesome. I added the chicken to the curry before the cream (of which I only used 150ml) and let simmer for about 30 minutes, then I added the cream - re seasoned heated though and skipped the honey. Made for Aussie Recipe swap #31

 

[wicked cook 46]

My DH loved this but I found the tomatoes took away the wonderful spices. With all the spices I really thought it would be spicer LOL Made for the Aus/NZ recipe swap #28 For the Gingerbread team