Chicken With Spices and Soy Sauce

This is an amazing recipe. I adore the flavours. I usually use the left over stock to boil the rice in, and have halved the chilies, but you can add more if you like. It's from the "Best-Ever Curry Cookbook" by Mridula Baljekar, but I wouldn't class it as a curry! Try it. You're not likely to be sorry!

• Ready In: 1 hr 15 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄3 kg chicken, jointed and cut into pieces (I use chicken wings and breast)
• 3  onions, sliced
• 1  liter water
• 3  garlic cloves, crushed
• 2  fresh red chilies, seeded and sliced or 2  chili powder
• 45  ml  vegetable oil
• 2 1⁄2 ml ground nutmeg
• 6  whole cloves
• 5  ml tamarind paste
• 2 -3  tablespoons soy sauce (light or dark)
•  salt
• 1 -2  cup  plain boiled rice, to serve

Directions

1. Place the prepared chicken pieces in a large pan with one of the sliced onions. Pour over enough water to just cover. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and allow to simmer gently for about 20 minutes.
2. Grind the remaining onions with the garlic and chillies to a fine paste in a food processor or with a pestle and mortar. Heat a little of the oil in a wok or frying pan and cook the paste to bring out the flavour. Do not allow the paste to brown.
3. When the chicken has cooked for 20 minutes, lift out of the stock and into they spicy mixture. Toss everything together over a fairly high heat so that the spices permeate the chicken pieces. Reserve 300ml of the chicken stock to add to the pan later.
4. Stir in the nutmeg and cloves. Strain the tamarind and add the tamarind juice and the soy sauce to the chicken. Cook for a further 2 - 3 minutes, then add the reserved stock. Taste and adjust the seasoning to taste and cook, uncovered for a further 25 - 35 minutes, or until the chicken pieces are tender.
5. Transfer the chicken to a bowl, topped with the shredded green and red chillies, and serve with plain boiled rice.
6. Tip: Day soy sauce is thicker and more salty than light. Adding the dark variety will give a deeper colour to the chicken.