Mar 21, 2013 Short term memory, in particular, is affected. Poor Oliver is suffering the consequences – his life right now is feast or famine. Literally. Either I forget I’ve already fed him and he gets second-breakfast (just like mommy!) – or his tummy starts audibly grumbling by 1 pm, when he starts pathetically pawing at his dish to let me know I’ve starved him, again. Poor furry guy. I think I should use this short-term memory loss to work some humour into my life. Like, saran wrap my own toilet before I go for a walk. When I get back? Boy, will I be surprised! We’ve been doing a lot of Indian food lately. I realize this is two curries in a row. Hope you don’t mind! The sweet little Indian baby in my belly is insisting on spicy food, and I’m happy to oblige. This curry is my own creation. I took bits of what I like about a few different curries and made my own favourite. It’s got subtle cinnamon and cardamom* against tomato backdrop, like butter chicken. But the ground nuts are borrowed from two of my other favourites, malai kofta and shahi paneer. And I like a little bit of heat in all my curries, hence the jalapeno and cayenne. I’ve made this one numerous times using almond butter (Almond Chicken Curry!), and it is amazing that way too. I do love it with cashews, but next time I would grind them to almost a paste (you can see in the photos that they’ve still got a lot of texture – still really good, but I think I’d prefer them finer). I really love the creaminess imparted by the long-simmered nuts or nut butter – it’s a wonderful richness without being cloying or overly heavy. Like with any curry, don’t rush it. Caramelize those onions. Simmer longer for deeper flavour. And season well with salt. I love this recipe, Indian hubby wholeheartedly approves, I think you will enjoy it, too. *A note on the cardamom – I just toss the whole pods into the pot (gently cracked with the side of a knife), but you need to pick out the pods when you’re eating the curry. You can scoop out the seeds with the tip of a paring knife instead, or just use ground.
Ingredients
1 cup dry roasted cashews (salted or unsalted is fine) OR 1/2 cup almond butter 1/4 cup ghee (or butter) 1 large onion, chopped (yielding about 1.5 cups) 4 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 jalapeño pepper, minced 3 tbsp garam masala 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp cayenne 1/8 tsp black pepper 3/4 tsp salt (plus more to taste) 10 whole green cardamom pods, cracked (or 1/4 tsp ground cardamom) 2 cups diced tomatoes 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut in rough 1 1/2″ pieces 1 cup water 1/4 cup cream (heavy or half & half), or full-fat plain yogurt Cilantro, chopped, for garnish (optional)
Preparation
