Tandoori chicken with coconut rice and salad

Continuing on my Indian theme, here is another meal which I like to cook using Indian flavours: tandoori chicken served with coconut rice and salad.

To make the chicken, I marinate some mini drumsticks in some tandoori paste which has been mixed with equal parts yoghurt. I put it in a little plastic bag and leave it in the fridge all day. I fry it in a frying pan until cooked, and it turns out so tender and delicious. If you have an oven, you could just pop the drumsticks in the oven for about half an hour.

To make the rice, I cook basmati rice in water with about half a can of coconut milk mixed in. Then, after it's cooked, I mix in a little shredded coconut.

I like to have some vegies with every meal, so I served a simple baby tomato salad which was flavoured with parsely, salt and cracked black pepper, and drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil.

On the side, I served some puppodums and naan bread with raita. I made the raita by mixing yoghurt with a grated cucumber, a clove of crushed garlic and a squeeze of lemon. The leftovers make a lovely dip with some chips or crackers!

Curry in a hurry

Here's one of my original creations. I like to call it "the mother of all curries."

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, diced into large chunks

1T garam masala curry paste

half an onion, diced

1 carrot, chopped

a few potatoes, chopped in big chunks

half an apple, grated

half a cup of frozen peas

dried corriander

a couple of bay leaves

half a can of coconut milk

about half a cup to one cup of chicken stock

2 tsp cornflour (optional)

Method:

In a little oil, fry the curry paste for one minute. Then, add the onions and cook for a few minutes.

Add the chicken. Keep cooking until the chicken is sealed.

Add the carrot, potato, coconut milk, apple, bay leaves and corriander. Also, add the chicken stock, but only enough so that all the ingredients are just covered.

Cover and simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes. Then, remove the lid. Throw in the peas. Simmer for another five minutes with the lid off.

Check that the potatoes and carrots are tender. Once they are good to go, your curry is ready! Sometimes it's a bit runny, so if that's the case, I would add some cornflour made into a paste with a little cold water.

This serves 4-6 generously. Since there is only two of us, I always freeze half. It freezes and re-heats really well!

I recommend serving the curry with basmati rice and naan bread. It goes very well with a full bodied white wine, such as chardonnay, or a fruity medium bodied red wine.