Indian Chicken in “Fried Onion Sauce”

When I arrived home this evening, I was greeted by the delicious smell of this cooking. We had found it in Madhur Jaffrey’s “Indian Cookery” and decided on it over the weekend while trying to be good and planning our meals this week ahead of time. Kerri had started on it shortly after she arrived home from work, which was very nice of her!

It was delicious but could have done with more sauce. Maybe it would have been soup then but that doesn’t matter since the sauce was really good and we would have eaten it all anyway. The addition of the fried onions gives it a lovely, slightly sweet flavour.

The recipe says it serves 4 to 6, which we halved for the two of us. Next time we would still use half the chicken, but would make the whole 4 to 6 person amount of sauce. Greedy I know. This is the recipe in its original form:

Indian Chicken in Fried Onion Sauce
Serves Two

1.25kg chicken joints
350g onions, peeled
4cm cube fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic
7 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 tablespoons natural yoghurt
600ml water
225g tomatoes, peeled and very finely chopped, or tinned tomatoes
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaf (we didn’t have any of this)

Cut the chicken into serving pieces. Whole legs should be separated into drumsticks and thighs. Whole breasts should be cut into 4 to 6 pieces. Skin all the chicken pieces.

Chop half of the onions coarsely. Cut the remaining onions into halves, lengthwise, and then crosswise into very thin slices.

Put the chopped onions, ginger and garlic into the container of an electric blender. Blend to a paste.

Put the oil in a large, wide pan or a large, deep frying pan (preferably non-stick) and set over medium heat. When hot, put in the sliced onions. Stir and fry the onions until they are a deep, reddish-brown colour. Remove the onions with a slotted spoon, squeezing out and leaving behind as much of the oil as possible. Put on a plate and set aside.

Take the pan off the heat. Put in the paste (keep face averted). Put the pan back on the heat. Stir and fry the paste until it is brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Now put in the ground coriander, cumin, turmeric and cayenne and stir once. Put in 1 tablespoon of the yoghurt. Stir for 30 seconds or until it is incorporated into the sauce. Add all the yoghurt this way. Add the chicken pieces and stir them around for a minute.

Pour in the water, add the tomatoes and salt. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer. Cover, turn heat to low and cook for 20 minutes. Sprinkle in the garam masala and the fried onions. Mix. Cook, uncovered, on medium heat for 7 to 8 minutes or until the sauce reduces and thickens.

Skim off the fat and put the chicken in a warm serving dish. Sprinkle the fresh coriander over the top.