Kadhai chicken

 

This recipe comes from Vivek Singh, owner of The Cinnamon Club where we enjoyed one of our Christmas family meals 

Kadhai chicken

After reducing the blended tomatoes, you can remove the base, cool and keep in the fridge for later use for up to a week

Serves 4 

Ingredients

For the spice mix

• 2 whole dried red chillies, broken and seeds removed
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp black peppercorns

For the kadhai chicken

• 4 tbsp corn or vegetable oil
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 onions, 1½ finely chopped and ½ cut into 1cm/½in strips
• 1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
• 1½ tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 6 tomatoes, 5 blended and 1 deseeded and cut into 1cm/½in strips
• 4 chicken thighs, skinless and boneless cut into strips 
• 2 green chillies, halved lengthwise 
• ½ pepper cut into 1cm/½in strips
• 2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
• ½ tsp garam masala powder
• 1½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves
• 1 lime, juice only

For the naans

• 750g/1lb 10oz plain white flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp salt
• 400ml/14fl oz whole milk
• 1 free-range egg
• 35g/1¼oz caster sugar
• 50ml/2fl oz vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp chopped garlic
• 2 tbsp fresh chopped coriander

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  Method

  1. To make the spice mix, dry roast all of the spices together in a pan until they release their flavour, this will take 2 minutes. Pound them in a mortar and pestle to a coarse crush.

  2. To make the kadhai chicken, heat the oil in a kadhai or lidded frying pan and add the bay leaf and finely chopped onions. Fry for 10–12 minutes until the onions are golden in colour. 

  3. Add the ginger and garlic paste and fry for a minute. Stir in the chilli powder, ground coriander and cumin and cook for another couple of minutes. 

  4. Add the blended tomatoes and continue cooking until the tomatoes are reduced by half. 

  5. Add the chicken and fry on a high heat for 2–3 minutes to quickly sear it. Then reduce the heat, cover with a lid and cook for 6–8 minutes until the meat is almost cooked. 

  6. Add the green chillies, pepper and onion strips, crushed spice mix, fenugreek leaves, garam masala, salt and sugar and cook for another minute or so. 

  7. Finally, add the tomato strips, mix well, sprinkle the coriander leaves, squeeze in the lime juice and remove from heat. Keep warm. 

  8. To make the naans, mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. 

  9. Whisk together the milk, eggs and sugar in another bowl, then add this to the flour mixture and knead lightly to make a soft dough (take care not to overwork the dough or it will become too stretchy). Cover with a damp cloth and leave to rest for 15 minutes. 

  10. Pour the oil over the dough and turn it a few times so it is evenly coated. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces, roll out each one into a circle about 9cm/3½in in diameter, and then gently stretch out one side to form the traditional teardrop shape. Top each naan with the chopped garlic and coriander. 

  11. Pre-heat a grill to high.

  12. Heat a large frying pan until hot, the place two naans into the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes, until it starts to get slightly coloured. Repeat this process for all the naans. 

  13. Turn the naans over and transfer the pans to a hot grill for a minute or so, until the bread puffs up and gets lightly coloured. Serve the naans hot, or wrap in a tea towel to keep warm.

  14. Serve the kadhai chicken with the homemade garlic and coriander naan.