Bombay-Style Chicken with Red Lentils

We had a roast chicken for lunch yesterday and even though we have large appetites, we never manage a whole chicken so there are always leftovers to contend with. We’ve had some success using cooked chicken in the past so looked to Madhur Jaffrey for inspiration.

The recipe we found called for uncooked chicken but it worked well despite that. There wasn’t a huge amount of heat to this dish but it was reasonably earthy with a good, rounded flavour. If we make it again, I would increase the spicing though and add some chicken stock to make up for the fact that we had previously-cooked chicken.

Bombay-Style Chicken with Red Split Lentils
Serves Two

125g red lentils
1 white onion, chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ginger, finely chopped
750ml water
Chicken
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
Green beans
Coriander, chopped

Combine the lentils, onion, chilli, cumin, turmeric and half of the ginger with the water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer with the lid ajar for 45 minutes.

Add the chicken and the salt, bring back to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes (or 45 if using uncooked chicken).

Put the oil into a frying pan and add the cumin seeds. When they start to crackle, add the garlic and the rest of the ginger and fry until the garlic begins to colour. Add the cayenne and immediately transfer the contents of the frying pan into the pot with the lentils and chicken. Also add the lemon juice, sugar and garam masala and any vegetables you may be using.

Cook on a medium to low heat for five minutes, transfer to a serving dish, garnish with the chopped coriander and serve.

We served this with some Brussels sprouts that we’d sauteed in cumin seed, onion seed and chilli but it really needed some naan bread to soak up the juices.