Gurkha Himalayan Chicken Curry, from the foothills of the Himalayan mountains comes this Gurkha style curry with its Indian/Chinese fusion of flavours.
I have made this reasonably mild. The Kashmiri chilli gives it a nice gentle warmth. The green chilies add a little extra heat. If you like it spicy add more of each, it will take it! On the other hand, if you like it mild simply omit the chilies completely.
The Chinese influence comes from the addition of fennel, Sichuan pepper and star anise in the spice masala.
If you know your spice blends, then you will notice this includes three of the spices used in Chinese five spice. In fact, if you haven’t got the whole spices, you could always substitute the fennel, Sichuan pepper, and star anise with a couple of teaspoons of five spice instead. You can do this if you don’t have a way of grinding them also.
The spring onions and lightly pickled ginger emphasise that Chinese influence a little bit more. However, flavour wise this is definitely more Indian than Chinese.
This dish will quite happily sit alongside other Indian dishes. It can be served with Indian bread, rice, and even chips!
So give this Gurkha Himalayan Chicken Curry a go. It’s easy and you don’t have to climb halfway up a mountain to enjoy it! If you do though, please make sure you take a photo. And do post to social media and tag Ome Made in it!
If you are regularly making curries, you could find the Braun MultiQuick 5 Pro hand blender a useful tool. This can be used for blending the tomatoes and making the onion paste. I can also recommend the Cuisinart Electric Spice Grinder for grinding your spices.
Gurkha Himalayan Chicken Curry
Equipment
- 1 mini blender
- 1 karahi
- 1 spice grinder
Ingredients
Marinate Chicken
- 750 g Chicken Thigh (or breast) thickly sliced
- ½ tsp salt
- 1.5 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp Kashmiri Chilli powder
- ¾ tsp ground cumin
- ¾ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp garlic & ginger paste
- ¾ tbsp plain natural yoghurt
Onion Paste
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil, sunflower oil or ghee
- 2 medium onions sliced
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 clove garlic roughly chopped
- 1 tsp chopped fresh ginger
- ¼ small green pepper finely diced
- ½ tbsp coriander stalks roughly chopped
Pickled Ginger
- 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thin juliennes
- ½ tbsp white wine or cider vinegar
- ½ tsp sugar
Spice Masala
- 1.5 tsp fennel seeds
- 1.5 tsp szechuan pepper
- ½ star anise
- 4 tsp mix powder or mild curry powder
- ½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
The Curry
- 3 tbsp oil The reserved oil from the onion paste can be used as part of this.
- ¾ tsp cumin seeds
- 1 inch piece of cassia bark
- 1 Tej Patta leaf
- 6 fresh curry leaves (optional)
- 1 tbsp garlic & ginger paste
- 400 g tinned, chopped tomatoes Blended smooth and coconut milkwith a hand blender
- 150 ml coconut milk
- ¼ tsp garam masala
- ½ tbsp dried fenugreek leaf
- 2 green finger chillies, sliced add more if you like it hot, less or leave out if you prefer it mild.
- ½ tsp salt, or to taste
- 1 bunch spring onions, sliced
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
Instructions
Marinate chicken
- Add the sliced chicken to a non-metallic bowl. sprinkle with salt and leave for a few minutes. Add all the other ground spices, garlic & ginger and the yoghurt and mix well. Cover the bowl and leave to marinate for at least three hours or ideally overnight.
Make Onion Paste
- Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add the sliced onions. Add the salt and stir to combine. Cook on a gentle heat, stirring often until the onions have turned a deep caramel brown. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook gently for around 10 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and let the mixture cool. Once cool transfer the mixture to a mini blender, blender or food processor and blitz to a smooth paste.
Pickled Ginger
- In a non-metallic bowl combine the ginger, vinegar and sugar. Leave covered in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours and up to 48.
Spice Masala
- In a dry frying pan, gently toast the fennel seeds, Szechuan pepper and star anise. Once aromatic empty into a bowl to cool.Once the spices are cool, grind to a fine powder in a spice/coffee grinder. Mix all the ground spices together to finish your spice masala.
Cooking The Curry
- Heat the oil in a karahi or pan and add the whole spices and curry leaves, careful as they may splutter. Once the seeds are sizzling add the garlic and ginger paste. fry for around 40 seconds, stirring regularly.
- Add the spice masala to the pan and fry gently for around 45 seconds, stirring constantly. If it is sticking add a splash of freshly boiled water.
- Add the onion paste and cook gently for around 1 minute.
- Add the chicken and marinade to the pan. Stir to mix everything. Add roughly 150ml of water, stir in and put a lid on the pan. cook on a gentle heat for around 10 minutes.
- Take the lid off the pan and add the tomato and coconut milk. Bring to a simmer and continue to cook on a gentle heat for another 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove the lid from the pan. Add the garam masala, fenugreek leaves and green chillies. Cook for a further 10 minutes.
- Check the curry for seasoning and add salt as needed. Add the sliced spring onions, pickled ginger, and coriander. Stir through and your curry is ready to serve.
If you have made and enjoyed this curry please post your photos of it on the UK Curry Group. You know we love to see them!
The spice blends used in ‘Ome Made recipes are available to buy from www.omemade.co.uk