Anjum Anand's Chicken Naag
publication date: Nov 28, 2009
Anjum Anand's Chicken NaagServes 4-6
Ingredients
· 3 tbs. vegetable oil
· 2 tbs. ghee or butter
· 1 tsp. brown mustard seeds
· 750g chicken, skinned and jointed (chicken breasts and thighs are ideal)
· 7 baby potatoes, peeled and quartered
· 1 medium onion, finely chopped
· Handful of finely chopped coriander leaves and stems
· 330ml of water
Marinade
· 7 fat garlic cloves, peeled
· 3/4” ginger, peeled
· 3 medium tomatoes, chopped into 2 cm chunks
· 3 rounded tbs. full fat Greek yoghurt
· 1½ tbs. coriander powder
· 1¼ tsp. garam masala
· ¼-½ tsp. red chilli powder plus some paprika for colour (optional – add more chilli if you like it a little hotter)
· ½ tsp. turmeric powder
· 1 tsp. cumin powder
· Salt to taste
Method
Step 1:
Make a fine paste of the ginger, garlic and tomatoes (ideally use a blender but if you don’t have one then grate the ginger and garlic to create a rough paste and chop the tomatoes). Stir in the powdered spices, salt and yoghurt. Add in the chicken and potatoes and leave, while you get on with step 2.
Step 2:
Heat the oil and butter/ghee in a medium non-stick saucepan. Add the mustard seeds and cook until they have popped – this will take about a minute max. Add the onions and cook over a moderate flame, stirring often, until the onions are well browned on the edges, around 7-8 minutes.
Add the chicken, potatoes and marinade and cook over a moderate-high heat, tossing the chicken in the paste quite often until the sauce in the pan starts to release oil droplets back into the pan (look at the edges of the pan). This should take around 8-12 minutes and the sauce will now have completely reduced. If you are not sure, taste it, the sauce should taste good and shouldn’t have any raw garlic flavours. If it is taking a while to cook - add a little of the water to the pan and reduce further before the next step.
Step 3:
Once the sauce has reduced significantly pour the remaining water (enough to come half way up the chicken), and bring to the boil. Cover and cook on a low flame until the chicken and potatoes are cooked, around 12-18 minutes (depending on the size of the joints and potatoes). There should be enough of the sauce for a creamy gravy, if not add a little more from the kettle.
Stir in the chopped coriander and serve with Basmati rice
Anjum's tips:
* To save time you can use a garlic and ginger paste
* If you don’t have a blender, chunky tomatoes work just as well as they will cook into the sauce.
* Chop the potatoes small or you’ll be waiting for them to cook.
Thanks to the boys at Cobra for letting us use this recipe. You can find more on their website and even watch Anjum making the recipe on their National Curry Week YouTube channel. Anjum Anand is the author and presenter of BBC's Indian Food Made Easy.