Malvani-style chicken sabji Malvani sukka murg

Ingredients

FOR THE MASALA

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

8 black peppercorns

4 cloves

seeds of 4 green cardamoms

seeds of 1 black cardamom

1 cinnamon stick, broken up into small pieces

6 dried red chillies

1 star anise

2 tablespoons desiccated coconut

200ml (7fl oz) water

FOR THE CURRY

3 tablespoons sunflower oil

2 onions, finely chopped

1½ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced

Directions

To make the masala, heat a frying pan, add all the spices and coconut and dry-roast over a low heat for 1–2 minutes until you can smell their aroma and they start to colour.

Transfer to a spice blender and blitz to a powder or use a pestle and mortar to finely grind them. Add the measured water to the spice mix and mix well to form a paste.

To make the curry, heat the oil in a pan, add the onions and cook over a low to medium heat for 6–8 minutes until lightly golden. Then stir in the spice paste and cook for a minute.

Add the salt, Kashmiri chilli powder and chicken, cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Uncover and cook over a high heat for a minute before serving.

Notes

I love a chicken curry, and it is high up on my list of favourite comfort foods. This recipe is inspired by Malvani chicken curry, which comes from a coastal region in the south west of India, and is well worth trying. The many spices used here add aromatic warmth and chilli heat to the chicken. I like this with very little sauce, so it’s ideal served with any flatbread, whether you choose the Spiced Layered Flatbread, chapattis or naan, but feel free to serve it with rice.